


Pride & Envy

by Aleph (Immatrael), EarthScorpion



Series: Kerisgame extras [5]
Category: Exalted (Roleplaying Game)
Genre: Anal Sex, Attempted Polyamory, Blow Jobs, Cunnilingus, Dom/sub, F/M, Femdom, Friends With Benefits, Getting Too Into It, Masturbation in Bathroom, Orgasm Delay/Denial, POV Female Character, Paperwork, Rough Sex, Sex Toys, Strong Millennial Energies, Teasing, misuse of magic, prehensile hair
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-26
Updated: 2019-06-26
Packaged: 2020-05-19 17:14:39
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 22,655
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19361209
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Immatrael/pseuds/Aleph, https://archiveofourown.org/users/EarthScorpion/pseuds/EarthScorpion
Summary: It's not that difficult being a servant of Hell when your mission is to corrupt a city that's so decadent you're not really sure there's anything left to corrupt.  Now, what is hard work is trying to handle your relationship with your girlfriend's boyfriend when she's made it clear to the two of you that she wants you to get along.  But Keris finds out that the two of them have interests in common - and she's really not sure how to feel about it.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This Kerisgame extra fits roughly between chapters 6 and 7 of the [Secrets Revealed](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18830851) arc of _Ascensions and Transgressions_

The isle of Saata was a wicked, depraved place in the eyes of people who call themselves civilised. This city of sin had hundreds of temples to petty little gods; the Immaculate temple was corrupt and turned a blind eye to such things. It was the gateway for the vices and drugs of the far South West to travel up into the northern Anarchy. It was a safe harbour for pirates, as long as those pirates didn’t touch ships of the Imperial Navy in ways that the weak-blooded, disreputable ruling house could find out about.

Only a few things were barred in this place, and the worship of demons was one of them.

And yet with such licentiousness as the city’s lifeblood, perhaps it was no surprise that no one knew that the woman who ruled the Hui Cha triad was a servant of Hell. Her estate on the south-western side of the island might have looked like any of the other mansions of petty pirate princes, but this one hid many dark secrets within it. It had been bought with wealth plundered from the returned rightful lords of Creation; it had been decorated with a fortune made in the gambling halls of Hell. Her cultists reached out through the Tengese triads; the demon lords who served her spread their ways by means both subtle and dire.

Feet up on her ornate lacquered hardwood desk, Keris Maryam Dulmeadohkt listened to the council of two of her demonic servants. She was a small woman, with skin the colour of milky chocolate and unusual features from her mixed heritage. Her father was a Tairan blacksmith from a rural mountain village, but her mother had been one of the long-limbed, dark-skinned warrior women of the Harbourhead highlands. Her mass of bright red hair was unnaturally long and moved like limbs; a gift of the demonic power invested in her. In it she held a thin shard of obsidian that she used to trim and hone the edge of her nails. On the back of her left hand, a collection of abstract black shapes formed the head of a dragon; opal fire burning in its eye. Raising itself off the back of her hand and moving freely through the air, the unnatural creature coiled around her forearm snapped at the shavings as they fell, devouring them as food for the many-coloured occult flame it held at the pulse-point of her wrist.

Her familiar, Rounen, cleared his throat, and adjusted his silver-rimmed spectacles. His vision was perfect, but what these magical lenses revealed to him was more subtle than the correction of a mere vision defect. Not a strand of his turquoise hair was out of place - and he radiated the same neat formality. “Ma’am?” he checked, clearly waiting for something.

Keris flapped her hand at him. “I was communing with my inner world,” she lied. It wasn’t that she had been thinking about a new fresco she was planning for the ceiling. Not at all.

Rounen hummed to himself. “Well, as I was saying, ma’am, I have the reports from the Jade Carnation here for you to read at your leisure.” He clicked his tongue. “I have also produced a summary, in case you wanted something more abbreviated. And, ahem, I have also corrected all the spelling mistakes that Saji made and highlighted the sections that are conjecture. Now, Rala...”

“Sir?” The red-haired demoness was another example of the same breed as Rounen, and had the same painfully neat style about her. Her hair was pinned back with pearl-headed ties; a legacy of her former nature as a wave cherub.

“The documents from Shining Foam? Summarise them, if you would.”

She presented them. “Right here, sir. Ahem. Now, if we look at the financials, Shining Foam is still running a loss due to the infrastructural investment, but production is up over the previous season. However, the wastage rate remains alarmingly high, and we believe that there are thefts of silver occurring.”

That got Keris’s attention. “Are you sure?”

“Yes, my queen.” Rala licked her finger, and presented one of the reports from her package. “Now, we have sent a message to Countess Ellyssivera requesting her presence in hunting down potential thieves, but…”

“That’s fine then.” Keris relaxed. “Is there anything actually important going on?” She tossed the obsidian shaver to the desk with a clatter, and the dragon-tattoo followed it, pulling itself free from her skin and spreading wings that spanned half a metre from tip to tip and launching itself into the air. Keris followed it with a grin as it circled twice and then landed, sinking into the wood of the desk like an inlay coiled around its prize.

Rala looked to Rounen for support. “Ma’am,” Rounen said sternly. “All of this is important.”

“Okay, but is it, actually? Rounen, I trust you to handle these things.”

“Ma’am, as I have said several times before, Shining Foam will keep on losing you money until you put several seasons into bringing it up into full operation and getting some stable contracts.”

Keris rubbed her temples with her hair. “Yes, yes, well, there’s more important things going on with my Ladies and I’m planning an expedition into Shuu Mua and I’ve been having to work on dealing with the problem of the Zu Tak - and checking on Ca Map, of course, and…”

She trailed off, hearing the footsteps making their way up to her office. Her eyes gleamed green, just for a moment reflecting the light of an alien sun. The sensation of power; the pressure of the mantle of the demon king; it could only be one person.

“Testolagh,” she said, not rising as the man entered without knocking. She focussed on the little girl in his arms, and a smile broke over her face. “And Aiko, hello. Did Daddy bring you up to see Aunty Keris working?”

Aiko nodded, head bobbing as she beamed. “Yep!”

“Well, that was nice of him.”

“Can I pet Iris?” the little girl wanted to know. Keris smiled benevolently and gave a short whistle, diverting the dragon-tattoo's attention from trying to chew on the shard of obsidian to the new arrivals. Aiko waved, and Iris replied with a puff of opalescent fire that formed the shape of a hand waving back.

Wriggling out of her father’s arms, Aiko ran over to Keris, who sat her on her lap. Aiko was just over three, but she spoke like a girl years older. Her mother had imbued her with demonic magic - and she hadn’t been human to start with. In truth, she was a dragon, twisted in the womb by the hellish power both her parents had accepted and her jet black lips and bright green eyes hinted at her true nature. She was the daughter of Sasi, Keris’s girlfriend, and Testolagh. Sasi… couldn’t be here, and Keris cared for Aiko as much as for her own children, or her niece.

“So, how was your day, Aiko? Did you have fun?”

“Yes, Aunty.” Coaxing Iris into her lap and petting carefully, the little girl began to recount a long and somewhat winding tale of how she had been playing with Kali and Ogin, Keris’s twins, mixed up with a book that she had been reading (with help). Keris listened indulgently; interjecting with the encouraging comments inherent to this sort of thing. She'd had plenty of practice at them with her other children, and Aiko was adorable.

The same couldn’t be said for Testolagh. He was wasn’t exceptionally tall for a man, but he was a solid man from the River Province who once wouldn’t have stood out on the street. Now, though, a stone scar crossed over his right eye. The eye itself was brass, with an emerald iris and a basalt pupil. There were more scars hidden under his loose, undyed shirt; a scabbed-over burn scar visible peeking out from under his shorts. The best that Keris could say for him was that she didn’t exactly dislike him. But there was always a hint of tension between the two of them.

More so now that Sasi had tried to get her two lovers involved with each other. Which was… well, she was a kind and loving woman. But Keris did feel she was asking a lot if she expected her to take Testolagh to bed and not get annoyed at how _very annoying_ he could be with his stupid self-righteous honour.

But they were making the effort. Even if things were a little strained at times. And Keris was putting up with some not-fantastic sex.

“That was very interesting,” she told Aiko, when the girl had largely petered out. “I guess you must be really tired after a long day.”

Aiko considered this. “A bit,” she decided. “But I’m more hungry right now.”

“Well, then,” Testolagh said, taking his daughter back from Keris, “Dinner time is soon, and then it won’t be long until bed.”

“Mmm.” She tilted her head. “What’s for dinner?”

“We’ll see, won’t we?” Keris said, leaning in with a stage whisper. “But I heard it might be something that a little girl likes a lot.” Aiko’s eyes widened at that.

Testolagh caught Keris’s eyes. “And after dinner, we’ve still got the planned briefing before I depart tomorrow?”

She nodded. “Yes. I’ll be taking your suggestions, but I do expect certain things from you.”

Rounen cleared his throat. “Excuse me, ma’am. I should probably be present at this briefing.”

“Out of the question,” Keris said immediately. Her familiar looked hurt at that, and she let her expression soften. “Rounen, there are certain things that were agreed in Hell that you’re not party to. A request made of us by a priest of Cecelyne.”

“Oh.” He swallowed. “As you were then, ma’am.”

Well, Keris thought, leaning back in her chair as Testolagh and Aiko left. She wasn’t exactly lying. Sasi _was_ a priestess of the Endless Desert, Cecelyne. And she wasn’t willing to let him know about the fact that she and her girlfriend’s boyfriend were going to be spending the night together before he left for the Wailing Fen.

“We should bring this to an end soon-ish,” she told Rounen and Rala. “I have preparations to make. And a bath to take.”


	2. Chapter 2

The private bathroom was a thing to make emperors weep. Two opposing walls were perfect ceiling to floor mirrors, made from Szorenic quicksilver lacquer. The sizeable circular tub dominated the centre of the room, large enough to seat six and heated from underneath by bound demons. The shimmering, many-coloured light came from a mixture of paper lanterns and precious gemstones which glowed with sorcerous light. Living plants crawled up the walls, eternally blossoming despite the fact they had never seen sunlight. The whole room carried their lulling scent. And the riches here - a silk bathrobe on the door woven by a demon lord for her mother's birthday, exotic products of alchemy for hair and body, wicked sinful goods bought from hell for the mistress of this place...

It was Keris's little indulgence. Meant only for her. And not, say, her second eldest soul-daughter who was hogging the bath that Keris had arranged for herself.

“Haneyl! Out!”

Her daughter rolled her eyes. “It’s big enough for both of us,” she drawled from among the steam. Wet, gelatinous pale green flame dripped from her fingers as she lifted them out of the water. “I’m just keeping it warm for you.”

Keris glanced irritably around the bathroom, noting that her favourite towel was already wet and on the floor and that the lids had been left off of several of her creams and hair care products. “Really?” she demanded, hanging up her bathrobe. Wearing only her hair, she started to clean up; Iris swooping across her skin excitedly at the prospect of playing in the water. “This is my bathroom! Not somewhere you can just leave things in a mess!”

“Whatever.”

“Look at this!” Keris presented a delicate glass bottle half full of green liquid. “That's my favourite! How much of it did you use up?”

“Hardly any! Stop being bitchy about things that don't matter!”

Keris gritted her teeth. “Haneyl, I am your mother! You don't get to call me a bitch!”

“I didn't! I called you bitchy. Because that's what you're being. What, is it the time of the month for you?”

Already getting a headache, Keris lowered herself into the water, scowling at her daughter. It was hard work being a mother of a teenager. In theory Haneyl was not in fact a teenager, given that she was a demon lord born only a few seasons after Aiko from Keris's hungry greed and burning envy whose human-like form was just a mask for the monstrous ravening dragon-wyrm that was her core nature.

But when she looked like a young woman of around nineteen years, and acted like a spoiled brat who left the tops off Keris's hair products and took her bath without asking and went out wearing totally unsuitable clothing no matter what her mother said, it was hard to remember what she was at heart. Which was something Keris had put years of effort into. It was a great success in taming what she could have been.

If only she wasn't such a spoiled, self-indulgent brat sometimes.

Haneyl pulled a face back at her mother, splashing some water at her with her foot. In the fierce South Western sun she tanned until she was nearly as dark as Keris, though in the bath her tan lines were obvious. She was taller than her mother, and built more like her other mother; Keris's girlfriend Sasimana. The Realm heritage was clear in the shape of her bright green eyes and stubborn chin, though she had Keris's brow and ears. Her grey and somewhat bushy hair was lathered up in expensive hair products that didn't belong to her. Four flames burned on her head, like an unseen crown or hidden horns. Matching green jade piercings stood out against her brown skin in many places; ears, nose, lower lip and others. They were anchors which kept her unnatural demonic form bound to this world.

"What?" she demanded of Keris, feeling her eyes upon her.

You were a lot nicer when you were a little girl, Keris didn't say. But she thought it. She missed how tiny and sweet her daughter had been. "Just thinking you look as old as I was when I got chosen as a servant by the lords of hell," she said instead.

Haneyl chuckled at that. "Aunty Zanyi did say we looked like we could be sisters yesterday," she said. Then she smirked. Haneyl was suddenly there in her personal space, chest pressed up against her mother’s, eyes glowing faintly green. "Are you acting bitchy because the sight of your younger and more beautiful daughter is making you feel like an old maid?"

Naturally, her mother tripped her and dunked her under the water. When Haneyl emerged, spluttering, Keris placed her hand on her head. “You’re being rude, and mean - and for no good reason. Say you’re sorry!”

“... you didn’t say I was wro-” Keris dunked her again. “Urgh! Fine! Sorry!”

Wrapping her arms around her daughter, Keris looked her in the eyes. “You’ve been acting up ever since you got back from the Deep South. Did something happen?”

“I’m fine.”

“Are you? Because you’re getting into fights and annoying people and…”

“I said I’m fine!” Haneyl wriggled loose, squaring off against her mother.

“Well, in that case, if you’re fine, you don’t have an excuse for acting like this.” Keris’s voice hardened. “And because you’re sorry, you’re going to give me a massage. Until you want to talk to me about whatever happened, I expect you to act properly.”

“Why are you so wrong? Nothing happened, really! You’re just being pushy and barging in on my affairs!”

The word hung in the air. Then; “Haneyl? Did you break up with one of your… affairs?”

“What?” Her nose wrinkled up in honest confusion. “No. Honestly, Mama, stop being so nosy! Some of us don’t have everything we do revolving around our dysfunctional love life!”

On one hand, Keris was damn sure that Haneyl had no right to call anyone else’s love life dysfunctional given how many lesser demons and humans she had taken to her bed. On the other hand, this was a little too cutting for her liking and her thing with Testolagh wasn’t for anyone else to know about. And on a lock of hair, for lack of any more hands, she already knew entirely too much about what Haneyl got up to in the bedroom because her daughter was utterly shameless and had to be chided to not treat it as dinner table conversation.

She definitely got that bit from her other mother.

“Well if you don't want me to be nosy; give me a reason not to be,” Keris demanded, turning around to lean against the stone wall of the bath. Iris wriggled off her skin onto the white stone and disappeared down onto the bottom of the bath. Her little dragon-tattoo wasn’t a fan of her home being invaded, whether by roots or weapons - or even piercings, sometimes. Haneyl waited for her to go, grumbling far more than was necessary for such a little favour, but eventually got to work. That was another of her bad habits. When she didn’t want to do something, she’d often spend longer complaining about it than it would take to just do it and get it over with.

Still, at least she was good at massages. Keris sighed in relief as her daughter’s roots sank into her back, unravelling the knots and ties of a hard day. The heat of a hot Fire day sunk in past her skin, pulsing deep inside.

“It’s so unfair,” she mumbled. “There’s so many meetings. Things were so much easier a few years ago.”

The pressure shifted, as Haneyl worked lower. “It’s part of growing up. For you and for me. Better rich and with boring things to do than poor and having to do unpleasant things just to survive. Sitting in meeting rooms listening to old people whine about how much things will cost isn’t my favourite thing, no.” They shared a laugh at that. “But there are much worse things we could be doing for our money.”

“Yes. Of course, yes.” Keris moaned. “But that doesn’t mean I like paperwork.”

“You don’t do it. You make my fogszentkae and rendszentkae do it for you.”

“Yes, but I have to read Elly and Rounen’s summary reports. That’s still boring reading.” Keris rested her head on the stone rim of the pool-sized bath. “I should make the others cover for me more.”

Haneyl snorted. She leaned against her mother as she worked on her arms. “Like you could ever make either of my brothers do work like that.”

“Rathan should be helping out more,” Keris said. She wasn’t _wrong_ about Vali’s unsuitability for paperwork, no.

“My brother is lazy and prissy and doesn’t do anything.”

“Oh, you know he’s actually been showing up at temple libraries in the city?” Keris said. “And just reading. He’s considering becoming a priest.”

“Like he could ever focus enough to qualify for his vocation.”

“I’m still going to encourage him. And you should do. You should believe in him more, Haneyl.”

Too-hot air huffed against the back of her neck as Haneyl snorted. “So Rathan can let me down? No thank you, mama. He’ll just vanish off when something else catches his fancy.”

Keris flinched at that. The words were… just at the edge of memory. But lost. It sounded like something she’d say, but not something she remembered saying. The chit-chat she made with Haneyl while she finished her massage was much more idle. It grew increasingly intermittent as Keris tried to meditate to put such thoughts out of mind.

After the massage was over, the two women sat in peaceful silence in the steamy bathroom, soaking in the warmth. And enjoying each other’s company while managing to not argue, which seemed to be a rare thing these days.

“Any plans for this evening?” Haneyl asked, lifting herself out of the water to sit on the stone edge of the bath. She stretched, spreading her legs and arching her back. Keris looked away from her daughter's shameless display. “It’s a quiet night for me. Read some of those sorcerous tomes you found in the Daimyo & Yellow. Then bed.” She giggled. “Might be an actual early night. Aiko’s upset that Testolagh is leaving tomorrow, so she might want her big sister to give her cuddles.”

Keris smiled at that. It was sweet how the half-sisters were close. “That’s cute. I am proud of how you look after her.”

“She’s adorable, and you know it. You?”

Keris blushed. “Nothing really. I had a stressful day. So I’m taking a nice long bath. You can leave, you know, if you have studying to do.”

Her daughter looked her up and down. “You’re embarrassed and you don’t want me here,” Haneyl said casually, “so I’m pretty sure you’re getting laid.”

“Haneyl!”

“What? We all do it.” She rolled her eyes. “I came about because you and Mother spent all the time in bed together and your flesh knew her shape when it came time to make me. Which is why I’m so beautiful,” she touched her chest with a lock of hair, “your flesh mixed together and I grew within your soul.”

“That’s not what happened!”

“Isn’t it? Isn’t it really?” Haneyl swung her legs out of the water, dripping wet, and glanced back over her shoulder archly. “Well, sure, mama, you can go out and get not-laid. I believe you. Really. Truly. And I suppose you won’t want any of us to babysit for the twins this evening either?”

“I will, but not… I’m just heading into the city… it’s not because of…” Keris degenerated into spluttering, sinking down to eye level in the water, cheeks red. Her daughter laughed as she headed out, taking the best towel that was still dry with her along the way.

It was mortifying to have a daughter so… so… argh! She'd call Haneyl a little demon, but the only error there was the 'little'. Stupid tall daughters.

Floating on her back, Keris stared up at the ceiling. Haneyl had already acquired a reputation in certain circles in Saata for the… overtness of her appetites. And she was getting arrogant from too many successes in short succession. She was going to have to talk to that girl. Some time. Soon. Not now.

After a nice long soak, she felt very clean. Like a siren, Keris rose from the water. Water rolled off her coffee coloured skin, and three metres of scarlet hair squirmed and squeezed itself dry. A tickling sensation crawled up her leg, across her hip and around the curve of her ribcage before sliding down her bicep. Iris; the little dragon settling back into her home on Keris's left arm.

“Ahhh,” Keris sighed, stretching to her full, still-not-that-tall, height. “Lovely.” Grabbing a towel, she blotted most of the water off her skin, then tossed it aside. Shaking her hair out, she seated herself in front of a floor length mirror that had sweetly fragrant candles placed around the rim. The soft golden light lit her up, playing over her features. She pouted, pulling a face as she stuck out her chest. The sight of her own features did always make her feel better. She _was_ beautiful. She had been a pox-scarred, malnourished street rat before the demon princes granted her power and reformed her in a chrysalis of hellish power. The might of the demon-realm had fixed her skin, mended that arm that never healed right, and cured all the marks of rough living in wyld-polluted Firewander. And they’d given her Dulmea, the first of the demons who lived in her head and whose presence had reshaped her body to give her glorious red prehensile hair. Her second mama - the mother of her Second Breath, rather than her First.

Even if she hated some things her masters wanted, she couldn’t forget what they’d done for her too. They’d taken miserable, starving, beaten scraps of flesh destined for a very bad place and turned them into this… this woman who could pass for a goddess. And had done so on many occasions.

Some people might have called it vanity. But they were people who didn’t look this gorgeous.

Cupping her breasts, she twisted to admire her silhouette from the side. She still hadn’t lost all the weight she gained from having the twins, and there was a hint of a belly roll starting to form from all of the good food Haneyl was feeding her. Maybe she should try to work more exercise into her routine. Evening swimming, or something. But on the other hand, maybe she looked better with a bit more curves to her. And when the twins got a bit older, she could give them some adorable little siblings. Her heart fluttered at the thought. Yes, when Sasi got back from the Realm, they could talk about having another child together. Sighing happily, Keris hugged herself.

“Oh, that reminds me,” she muttered to herself, rummaging through one of her desk drawers. Pulling out a little kettle and oil heater, she fetched water for it then lit it with a snap of her left hand. There was a little clay pot of maiden’s tea leaves down in the drawer. When the water was boiling, she’d need to brew a pot of contraceptive tea.

Yes, with her control over her biology there was almost no risk that she’d get pregnant from this, but Keris didn’t want Testolagh’s child. Drinking a small cup of bitter tea beforehand was a small price for extra safety.

“Need to get some more,” she noted, glancing in the half-empty pot. “Dulmea, please remember this for me.”

“Yes, child,” said the demon in her mind.

“Then take the evening off,” she added.

“Believe me, child, I intended to. I have no interest in being party to what you do with that man. I was going to attend a play in the Isles, as a matter of fact.”

Keris wriggled down in her seat. “Thank you, mama.” She paused. “And also lock the-”

“Yes, child. I will stop Sirelmiya from getting in.”

“Thank you,” Keris said, her feelings truly heartfelt. She didn’t need the demon who represented her love for Sasi trying to ‘help’ mid-act. “Now, if you excuse me, I have to get ready.”

She felt her mother’s presence recede. Not that there wouldn’t still be Chords in the Tower; Dulmea was omnipresent in the City at the centre of Keris’s inner world, but there were none around the mirror that showed the view through Keris’s eyes. She was alone, but for the distant sound of music in her head.

Well, if she was going to get laid, she might as well start with the bits that would be getting the most attention. Leaning back on her stool, she spread her legs and checked her lower regions, running a finger over her outer labia with a sigh. She’d never had this much growth when she lived with Sasi. But that’s what you got when your girlfriend was all the way in the Realm getting into Heaven only knew what kind of danger. And also when you weren’t swimming long distances frequently.

She framed her pussy with her fingers, twining her fingers through the red fur. What would Testolagh like? He liked Sasi and Sasi had shaved everything for as long as Keris had known her, but she was from the Realm and it was a cultural thing there.

“Keeping some,” Keris decided. “But… hmm.” He was going to eat her out if she had anything to say about it, so it was common courtesy to clean it up a little. But she’d leave hair on her mound. Maybe make it a decoration.

In fact… hmm. She met her reflection, smiling widely. “He doesn’t know how to make me happy,” she said to her. She teased herself with her right hand, idly stroking. “Maybe the red pearl piercings. One over each pleasure centre I want him to focus on. Keep his mind focussed.” Tongue, nipples, clitoral hood. “And then… tattoos…”.

Iris knew enough to recognise _that_ word, and blew an eager little apple-shaped puff of rainbow fire past Keris’s fingers. Keris gave her a narrow-eyed look. “No,” she said sternly. “No eating any tattoos I decide on. Not until tomorrow. Then you can play with them all you want.” Much as she loved Lilunu's gift of a familiar; Iris was a _pain_ when it came to keeping tattoos on her skin for any length of time. It wasn’t that she was jealous of them - quite the opposite. Rather, it was that she liked playing with them _too much_. And other tattoos rarely survived long when she got rough with them in her excitement.

Tapping her lips thoughtfully with a hair tendril, Keris rose - still nude - and walked over to the beauty table. It was a wide surface of rich-hued rosewood, a broad silver mirror set opposite the luxurious chair, with a multitude of cunning drawers and shelves and trees to hold her extensive jewellery collection. Walking her hand over the surface with a bewitching smile sent to her reflection, Keris unlocked and tugged open the wide, shallow drawer of piercings. Resting on soft black velvet, dozens of pieces gleamed.

“Yes,” she hummed. “The red pearl will work nicely.” Tongue, nipples and clit were plucked out and laid on the soft pad of the working-surface. After a moment’s consideration, she picked out the earrings and belly-button piece that completed the set. She might as well look pretty with her clothes on, as well as off.

“Now, makeup and perfume,” she muses. “And tattoos. Hmm. What do you think?” She glanced at the mirror playfully, then hesitated for a moment.

... no, her reflection didn’t bleed to albino colouration and talk back. The demon lord Hermione who haunted this mansion must be elsewhere. Good.

She nudged the drawer shut and turned to the rather deeper one where her make-up and fragrances were kept in little wooden and silver boxes or delicate glass bottles. Like the piercing drawer, this one was locked - although it wasn’t exactly a thing a key would help with. Her root-tendrils delved through the wood and separated the drawer from where it was fused to the desk around it. It was a trick she’d learned from using it on Adami back in Taira - and while he’d been able to get the things inside her trick box anyway, he hadn’t been able to actually open it. She smirked at the memory. No, the only person who could was, unfortunately, Haneyl.

“Cherry,” she decided, picking her perfume. She wouldn’t need much - her shampoos had already scented her hair. This would just add a pleasing sweet note on top of the deeper scents that lingered. Scent was strongly tied to memory. Weeks from now, Testolagh might catch a whiff of cherry from a market stall and find his thoughts drifting to her against his will. A delightfully fun little trick, in her opinion.

Twenty minutes later, the piercings were in, her mound bore an empty circle of red to mimic her caste mark, and her nails and eyes were painted gold. Subtle brushes of make-up accentuated her cheekbones and toned down the scars of the Silent Wind - except for her ragged lips. The scars there weren’t noticeable except from very close up, but the vivid red they’d left her mouth meant lip paint was never needed. She’d decided against tattoos - even Iris, who had been quietly but sternly instructed to go coil up with Atiya and keep an eye on her and the twins.

Fetching a coloured bottle of scented oil, she poured a little onto her hands, then began to rub herself down. Not enough to make her look wet, but enough to give her a healthy glisten to her skin. She shivered, hairs on the back of her neck standing on end at the feeling of her slick hands gliding over her nipples, her thighs, her freshly shaven labia. Oh, there was nothing quite like it. Adding just a little bit of extra oil, she ran a finger up her slit. It was an old trick, but men loved it.

Standing, Keris admired herself in the mirror and struck a pose.

“See you soon, sexy,” she winked, and blew herself a kiss.

Now for the clothes.


	3. Chapter 3

Her private bathroom was one thing, but a mother needed a place to enjoy herself without her children wandering in. To that end, Keris had built an exclusive little retreat to vice in a smaller building on her lands. If her bathroom was suspicious, the place she had called _Love Unchained_ would have had the Immaculates frothing at the mouth if they found it. Whether that was in rage to slay the anathema, or all-consuming lust to fall at her feet and adore her forever entirely depended on the willpower of the monk or nun in question.

And for that reason, she had quite sensibly renovated a ruin that extended into the cliffside. It was nearly inaccessible by land and well above sea-level. Unless you knew it was here, the fell demonic shrine hid the door from suspicious eyes. There were many ruins on Saata - what was one more, whispered the Demon Sea Kimbery into the mind of onlookers.

Once within, though, its true purpose revealed itself. And that purpose was debauchery.

The bed dominated the main room; a stone dais piled with mattresses and pillows. Deep scarlet demon spider-silk sheets drew the gaze there immediately. Its sides were engraved with scenes of wicked vice, in case its purpose had been missed.

Mirrors were everywhere, worked into irregularly-shaped frames edged in silver feathers, angled so that they were centred on the bed. A perceptive onlooker would realise after a moment that not all the mirrors were truly reflections; many were instead paintings of the bed made to look like they were reflections. But rather than showing the world as it really was, they showed other things; demons coupling, cultists rutting, Keris playing with herself or making love to Sasimana. On one wall there was a collection of hellish dildos, sculpted in replica of the genitalia of various demon-species from the materials of Hell. On another, hung cunning devices imported from the pits of the Street of Golden Lanterns.

But it was the stone statue-shrine at the head of the bed that was truly eye-catching. Keris had raised this room as a temple to her own self-indulgence and vanity; the being honoured by this shrine was no one other than herself. A life-size statue of herself, painted to be a facsimile of reality, spread her legs at the head of the bed. The expression on her face was one of blissful lust; eyes squeezed shut, biting her lip with a sinful smile. And the corrupt demon-granted skill that had gone into making it captured the mind. The mind, and perhaps the soul too.

How could one look at this lustful blasphemy and not want her? And not want to give one’s self to her, all in the hope of seeing the same expression upon her living flesh? And not want to honour her by wearing the expressions of mindless bliss of the figures in the paintings?

Testolagh’s reaction to all of this - and the oiled-up figure of desire in silken lingerie who waited for him - was somewhat less than Keris had hoped for.

“Really?” he asked, as he unbuttoned his loose long shirt. “Don’t you think you’re trying a bit hard?” His eyes flicked over the paintings, frowning slightly as he caught sight of Sasi’s blissful expression in one. “I mean, you’re beautiful. You don’t need to rub it in everyone’s...” he swallowed, “faces. This is kind of tacky.”

“Shut up, asshole,” Keris muttered, pouting. She had wanted more of a reaction. He was just so… argh! Still, she smiled when she glanced at his shorts. From the bulge, he wasn’t quite as unaffected as he pretended. “Get over here and stop taking your clothes off yourself. Undressing’s some of the fun.”

The mattresses sagged under his weight as he sat down next to her. “So,” Testolagh said, looking at her rather than everything else in the room. “Has anyone else seen this place?”

Keris chuckled at that. She leaned against him, rubbing his arms between her breasts and watched his shorts tent. “Apart from the demons that I bound for this and sent straight back to Hell? No. But I wanted it ready for Sasi’s trip down here she mentioned this Wood.” She laid a hand on his thigh. “We get to dedicate this temple to me,” she breathed, deliberately overplaying the cliche. “Now, come on. Lie down on the bed - face down.”

“Like this?”

“Yeah. Let’s start with a bit of a massage. Limber you up.” She rested her hand on his groin. “Look how stiff you are,” she whispered.

He rolled his eyes at her, but that was ruined by his bobbing Adam’s apple. He certainly obeyed.

Kneeling astride his back, Keris considered the expanse of scarred flesh before her. They were bands of soft, supple stone and metal - not at all human. “You know,” she observed, as her hair grabbed one of the bottles of oil from the floor. “You never did tell me how you got most of these. I think you started once, and then we got distracted by the twins.” She started to knead his back. He was tense.

“That… ah! That one, by the shoulder blades? The wide one? Dynast with a sword covered in thorns. Got behind me when I was fighting his sister. Tore my back open. That would have been… oh, four years ago? Before I met you.” Testolagh shifted, muscles flexing under her hands. “Same battle I lost my eye. They had us making trouble for the Realm in one of the northern satrapies - Narsand, a bit west of Cherak. Then the satrap and his cronies showed up.”

Keris paused. She could feel the shape of the scars, and even with the power of the King of the Demons, they went deep. Vicious, hungry wood-essence had torn at the flesh, even chipping his bones. “That must have hurt,” she said, pulling out a few of her acupuncture needles from her hair and pinching their tips with her left hand – magnesium, brass, copper. Now, which meridian would she need to weaken to get him to relax and shift his thoughts away from such bad memories...

“Laid me out for nearly a month,” he admitted. “I made it through the battle, then collapsed. That one was the worst. But, for example, that one - small of my back? Arrow from a duel in the Althing. One of their suck-ups wanted to make me kneel before her. You know Lalda - the Northern Ice Wastes director? Scourge like you?”

The name rang a bell, but Keris was fairly sure she’d never spoken. “Not really?” she said, sliding in one of her needles coated in a numbing poison. He wouldn’t even feel the pricks.

“Vicious woman, and as devoted to them as Sasimana is.” He sighed. “I don’t know if she did it of her own initiative, or one of them ordered her to. Doesn’t really matter. It wouldn’t make me think less of either of them.”

“Mmm,” she said, as she worked down from his shoulders, focussing on the small of his back. As she worked the oil into his skin, he shimmered in the lantern light. “You know, if you ever wanted to get rid of some of these scars-”

“It’s fine.”

“I’m just saying…”

“I said, it’s fine. They earned them. Or they’re a reminder.”

Keris eased off his shorts, tossing them behind her. He was wearing nothing underneath. At least he’d washed before coming here. She didn’t spare the oil as she continued working her way down. She knew Sasi’s tastes, and she could see what her girlfriend saw in his backside. Keris wasn’t so fond of it. She preferred her men softer. But from a more detached point of view, it was toned and well-muscled; pale compared to the exposed skin that had tanned in the far-Southern sun.

It looked even better once she’d added a few more needles into his lower back, upper thighs and groin to redirect blood flow, strengthen his desire, and grant him more staying power. The little brass needles did their work, and she smiled as he shifted without thinking, grinding against the bed.

She finished up with his calves, then returned to his groin. She was generous with this extra load of oil she poured directly onto him, dribbling it onto his asshole and letting it ooze down onto his balls. He was warm as she rubbed the side of her hand between his cheeks, massaging it in and reaching under him to coat his erect cock. His breathing deepened as she worked on him.

“Does that feel good?” she asked, knowing the answer already.

“Yeah. Should I…”

“Not yet. Let me just work it in a bit more…” Keris took the chance to pull the acupuncture needles out as if they’d never been there, then helped roll him over. His eyes were hooded now; cheeks flushed. His dick was fully erect, foreskin half-peeled back, already coated with oil. She made sure to add more on, though. Though he was entirely normal in terms of length, he was somewhat thicker than usual and that could come as a surprise if she wasn’t entirely ready.

“Nice collection,” he said, and she realised he was looking over at her dildos. He propped himself up on his elbows. He didn’t actually sound mocking. “Are they all from Hell?”

“Not all,” she admitted, leaning back to kneel on the bed. “Made a few myself - like that hardwood one on the left. But most of them… yeah. Sasi’s got me more than a few as presents over the years. And then the rest are… well, I got a lot of gifts this Calibration.” She realised where this conversation was going and tried to change it. “Admiring them?”

“Yeah. The more… uh, human ones. Like that one you said you made.” He winced. “I don’t know about you, but that red one down the end, for example, doesn’t look like it’d be fun to use. What demon breed is that?”

“Blood ape,” Keris admitted. “It’s one of Sasi’s presents. It’s too large for me to really enjoy, too. But like what you see?”

“Oh. That makes sense.” He nudged her with his leg. “But if you wanted to bring some of them into play, yeah. For me or you.”

Keris grinned. She remembered the threesome with Sasi. He’d liked having his ass filled with Sasi’s demon magic. Honestly, she suspected Testolagh liked boys more than she did. He’d just chosen to be faithful to Sasi - and it’d taken a long time for her girlfriend to talk the two of them into trying to make this trio thing work. “Well, I’ll remember that,” she said.

“Just… uh, nothing too big.”

“Yeah.” She bit her lip. “No, really, I understand.”

She wasn’t sure what to say next, or who’d make the next move. Her eyes flicked to his lips. They had rules for this; no kissing. That had been Keris’s choice there. But it made things less spontaneous, more awkward. And there was his hand on her thigh, his fingers tracing up towards her pussy. His skin was calloused; the hands of a man who held a sword daily.

Leaning back, she spread her legs slightly. He followed her motion, fingers up against her silken undergarments. He rubbed up against her, fabric in the way. She let out a pleased little hum.

“Oh, you put the piercing back in,” he murmured, fingers lingering on the little bar hidden under the cloth.

“Yeah.” She pushed back against his motions. Her wetness started to stain the silk, which was already clinging to her lower lips from the oil. “It’s just more fun with it in.”

“Mmm hmm.” He lowered his head, pulling the silk aside. His breath was warm on her naked flesh; his fingers traced out the caste mark she’d shaped the hair on her mound into. He licked her, bottom to top. “How’s that?”

The touch gave her pleasant goosebumps. “Good. Just…” She shifted around, until she was sitting up at the head of the bed, her own head resting between the thighs of her shrine-statue. She spread herself more widely, flashing him a smile. “I dedicate what happens here this night to myself. Get to work.”

His head dipped between her legs, and she gave herself over to sensation. He knew what he was doing. He didn’t just repeat the same gesture time and time again until she went numb, or do some of the stupid things men in her past had tried. His tongue lapped at her little hot button, making her hair knot itself up. He brought one hand up to tease her labia and hook his fingers into her, making wet little noises.

And yet… it wasn’t getting out. There was something trapped inside, yes, something that pulsed and throbbed like a second heartbeat in her clit, but it wasn’t escaping. Keris caught the eye of her reflection in one of the mirrors. The other Keris was flushed, but the bobbing of his head and the swinging of his dick behind him just wasn’t enough. It was a reminder that this was Testolagh.

Hands on his shoulders, she pushed him away, turning him over onto his back. She shuffled up onto her knees, peeling away her clinging underwear. She made sure he could see her playfully hang it from the arm of her statue.

Testolagh snorted at that. “She needs to borrow them?” he asked, face wet with her juices.

“Maybe?” she said with a grin. “It’s not like she has any.” Leaning in, Keris wrapped a hand around him. He was already hard, but her touch made his cock pulse under her grip. With her thumb, she slid back his foreskin, running the pad over the top to smear precum around. She exhaled as he brushed his hand up her thigh, running along until his middle knuckle was up against her pussy.

“You’re so wet,” he murmured, spreading his fingers to trace her lower lips.

“Mmm.” She leaned over to kiss his nipples, then his navel, then the head of his dick. She licked it from base to top, spreading the oil around with her tongue, then straddled him. “Here we go,” she muttered, slipping him in and sinking slowly down onto him. She felt him spread her smoothly; both oiled, her wet on top of that. Testolagh’s lips parted in a silent exhalation, as she started to bounce up and down on top of him.

“It’s good,” he mumbled, hands reaching up to fondle her. She reached back with her hair and slid the mist-thin chemise off, letting her breasts bounce free. His fingers went to the piercings there, playing with them as the air filled with the scent of their sex and the sound of flesh against flesh. His big hands squeezed her small breasts, and she leaned into him, letting him support some of her weight. He was a hotness she impaled herself on, his rigidness pushing against her from the inside. She squeezed; he groaned.

It wasn't like it was the worst sex she'd ever had. If it had been, he'd never have gotten a second invitation back to her bed. She’d had much worse. He didn't treat her as something to hammer until he got his release. He was in good shape and fine health. And - dragons, was she thankful for this - he wasn't so drunk that he couldn't tell the holes apart. He was attentive. Handsome. The women of the owlrider clans probably dreamed of being in the position she was right now.

The sex was good. It was fine. Just fine.

Arching her back, she presented him with her chest. Oh, did he like the hypnotic motion of the tiny red pearls hanging from the silver bars as she bounced up and down? They were glowing faintly, and she’d worked a little magic on them so they captured the eye. It was only fair play. She didn’t have much to work with. Not like her girlfriend’s generous bounty.

“Suck them,” she gasped, squeezing down on his heat within her. She needed the extra stimulation. Sitting up, he took one of her nipples into his mouth, the bar between his teeth. She let out a little gasp, playing it up into a moan. The pressure of his mouth was something, but it wasn’t enough.

With a nudge, they rolled over until she was on her back, holding onto her statue’s legs. She wrapped her legs around him, helping guide his pace as he thrust deep into her. Each motion rubbed her up against the oily silk of the bed. And that was fine too. Just… fine.

Over his shoulder, she stared up at her reflection on the ceiling - and the pictures of other hers who seemed to be having much more fun. If only Sasi were here too, to be soft and giving and curvy and… and the woman she loved. Or Ney, to hold her and be annoying but in a soft way that it wasn’t even like she wanted, but which he somehow managed anyway. Or Rat, or...

"Hold… hold on." She pushed him off her, squirming around.

"What's up?" His dick bounced, gleaming in the lantern light. White froth coated his head, a bead dripping down. Red locks kept stroking him, playing with his balls.

"Just want to do it more like this," she said, pushing up onto her hands and knees. She presented herself to him, waggling her backside. Oil and their mixed lubricant slid down her thigh. She trembled at the sensation.

"Mmm." Testolagh slid in again, only dipping shallowly. She gasped as the brief emptiness was filled again. “Is this better?”

“Yeah. Yeah.” She licked her lips, glancing over at her dildos. At the hardwood one she’d based on Ney. She pushed back. “Just fuck me.”

And it was better Keris thought to herself, letting her head sink onto her arms as he slid deeper into her. She wasn't fully into it, but it felt good. She arched her back, and let out a little moan from the back of her throat. Her slick nipples dragged against the oily, wet silken sheets, the piercings tugging at her. It was a pleasant counterpoint to the heat of his thighs against her behind. He was getting into it; his heartbeat pounding away faster than he thrust. Testolagh's breaths rasped against the back of his throat and the slapping of flesh filled the room.

Ney had taken her like this, on his lavish silken bed which she’d taken as inspiration for this one. Reaching back with her hair, one lock started to play with her clit while others snaked around Testolagh's body. She had his waist, his thighs, his - nicely toned - arse. If it wasn’t for how he was shaped wrong, sounded wrong, breathed wrong, smelled wrong; she could almost pretend it was Ney now behind her.

Oh, that felt good. The thought pulsed heat into her groin. Her hair worked away on her clit, squirming around like tiny fingers as his balls pushed her piercing into the sensitive little nub with each impact. When he thrust he spread her open; when he pulled back his head scraped over her interior walls nearly all the way to her exit. He angled just right that he was pushing again and again against the right bits. She could get off on this.

But not as close as he was getting. With hearing like hers, the little noises of a male body reaching its limits were obvious to her. No! She… she wasn’t going to let him get off first. She’d put the effort in - far more effort than he had - and she deserved something nice! She deserved her orgasm.

She timed her yank to match up with his next thrust. He went deep, deeper than he'd planned, and let out a trembling groan as his thighs met hers and he bottomed out.

Keris didn't let him pull out. Her silken, wet hair played over her clit while he filled her completely. Clenching within her, she squeezed his cock, growing tiny tongues from her walls lick and play with his head. She teased around the edge, along the sides, a feeling that no mortal woman could ever provide.

His breath was that of a hoarse beast, a rasping shuddering coming from behind. His thighs were a heat against her backside; she could feel every twitch from the blood pulsing through his groin. His heart beat faster and faster, and her inner tongues could taste the salt leaking from his tip in anticipation of his release. She could smell their sex wafting through the air, a musk that usually got her going. That just. Wasn’t. Enough.

“Keris,” he gasped. “I'm nearly, I'm gonna…”

So she stopped, relaxing those inner muscles. She kept her hair holding him tight, though, so tight he couldn't even pull out to get the little bit of extra stimulation to push him over the edge.

“Please,” he groaned. She could hear the harshness of his breath, the trembling frustration as she held him away from the edge.

“Not yet,” she said, twisting her head back to look at him. A lock of hair teased the ring of his ass, flitting around it until he let out another groan. “Let me have some fun first…”

“Keris!”

“Listen, last time I had to finish myself off,” she snapped, and felt him stiffen in all the wrong ways. Oh, he was sensitive about that. Very sensitive, actually. He hated the idea he was a bad lover. And that nasty little side of her pointed out she could use that. “Sorry,” she said, more softly. “It’s not your fault, but I want to come too.”

“But you just-” She teased his asshole more, and he lost track of what he was saying with a cracked-voiced shudder. He had been softening, but the touch brought him back to full mast. “Oh~h~h.”

She grinned back at him. “Isn’t it much more fun to slow down and take it easy?” she said, in her most innocent voice.

“What do you want?” There was a hint of something ugly in his voice. Something sullen. “I could go down on you again…”

“I want fun,” she said, reaching out for her shelf with a lock of hair. He slid out of her fully, wet cock bouncing with every heartbeat. “Let’s do more than just you pounding me.”

“I thought you wa-”

“Tessie,” she said, a slightly mocking note in her voice, “you said you were interested in my collection, didn’t you?”

“Oh.” She heard him swallow. “Yes.”

The lock of hair she’d been using to play with herself was by now soaked with their juices, the locks twisted together into a solid braid. She snaked it back, swapping its place for another one. What she’d fetched from the sex toys was a replica of a demonic organ. It wasn’t quite a tongue, it wasn’t quite a proboscis and it wasn’t quite a penis. What it was was narrow at the top and tapering into something pleasingly wide, covered in little nodules. It wasn’t her favourite, but she had a feeling he’d enjoy it more. She wiped her soaked hair against it, and added a generous helping of oil.

The two of them were staring at each other; both entirely naked, both aroused, and yet annoyed at one another. Making sure he could see, Keris slid it into herself, pumping it in and out until it was fully coated. She moaned extravagantly. “Oh, that’s just as good as you,” she lied. No. Too narrow, not the right shape.

“Why are you like this?”

“Because you’re not getting me off!” She pulled the dildo out, oily and slick, and leaned in, pushing him back with her hand. “So get on your back. I’m taking charge.”

He gave in quickly - much more quickly than she expected. She clambered onto him, back to him, and leaned in to stroke his dick with a not-quite-tight-enough hand.

“Keris, I’ll make you come if you just stop being like this. I’m better than whoever you’re used to. If you want me to go down on you again, I w-”

“You ready?” she asked, grinding her ass up against him even as she rubbed her new invader against his ring.

He moaned at the skin contact, at the feeling of her rubbing up against his cockhead, against his ass. “Yeah.” From the look on his face in the mirror, she’d just drawn a line through whatever higher thoughts he was having.

“I’m not sure,” she said sweetly, pulling it back. “Maybe you need a bit more…”

“For fuck’s sake, fuck me!” His voice hitched raggedly. “Sasi doesn’t play like this.”

Her grin was demonic. “Oh, doesn’t she?” She brushed it against his ass, pulling it back when he tried to push back against its narrow tip. “No, she probably gives a greedy boy like you what you want. And the feeling when she thrusts…” she pulled her legs together, trapping his cock between her thighs, “those mind-hands into you is great. Yes, don’t deny it. We’re both speaking from experience here.

Rocking back and forwards, she began to stroke it with her thighs, feeling it pulse and his breaths hitch. “But me, I can’t do that. I’m more playful. I have to know you want it. Want _me_.” She paused deliberately, letting the words sink in. “It’s just… I want to have fun too. If this is going to work.” And it probably wasn’t, she was starting to think. She preferred girls, and while she’d make an exception for some men, he wasn’t her type. Not to mention that they just rubbed against each other. And not in the sexy way.

“Keris!” he groaned.

“You want it? I’m not sure.” She sat on his midsection, his dick between her thighs, his heat pressing into her slit. Why was he being so damn passive?

Well, she’d show him.

With a small smile, she lifted her torso up, her labia sliding along the side of his shaft. Up and down, all so slowly, not enough to push her over the edge. Little wet sounds came as her lips tugged his foreskin back and forwards over his head. He tried to thrust up, but she was on top and she just shifted so his attempt to plunge into her bounced uselessly between her thighs. She laughed at that, and flicked his cock in punishment.

“Bad boy.”

“Pl-pl-please.” He hardened again, pushing against her. Their eyes met in the mirror in front of them, his reddened face peering around the curve of her ass. Making sure he could see her, she licked one finger and ran it along his cock from balls to tip, and then licked it. Then she did it again. “Fuck, that’s hot.”

“I’m not sure you’re really wanting it, you know?” She stopped her motion, and he flinched. “Maybe you’re just saying it because you think it’ll please your boss. Make sure I give you a good review to Lilunu. I have to know you really want me to fill your ass while you fuck me. Give me a reason to do it.”

“Keris, please, I… what do you want?”

“What do I want?” Keris gave him an arch look. “I want to come.” She stroked his asshole, teasing it with the tip. Again, when he tried to buck back she withdrew, but this time kept the tip in. His groan shuddered deep in his throat.

“If you want to come, I’ll make you come.” He groaned. “This is bullshit. You’re just… ah, you’re just teasing me now while complaining I’m not doing enough to please you!”

“Well, maybe you’re not!”

“Maybe you’re not giving me the chance! I’ll show you!”

“Will you?”

“Yeah!” He tried to sit up, but her hair forced him down. “I’ll have you moaning and screaming like Sasi. I’ll show you, if you just… stop… teasing!”

Her jaw clenched. “Maybe this time, I get to come and you don’t.” She pushed against his ring, lubing it up. “Doesn’t that sound fair? Like last time was for me?”

Testolagh’s breath was ragged. “I won’t come before you do.”

“Oh, but you’re a man. You really can’t make that promise.” More bitterness than she meant escaped; bad memories of Nexus bubbling up. “You’ll just keep at it until you get your release.”

“ **Keris, I promise you, tonight I won’t come until you do** ,” Tesolagh growled. His words echoed in a way they shouldn’t have. She could hear the impossible music of them burning into his soul.

Despite everything, she stiffened up. That was… much more than she’d expected from him. Was he that offended by the idea that he couldn’t get her off? That touchy on the subject? Wow. She relaxed again as the new possibilities opened up.

Oh, she could have _fun_ with this.


	4. Chapter 4

“Good boy,” she said, and pushed slowly into him. He shuddered as she filled his ass, and sagged back, breathing heavily, hands over his face. “Doesn’t this feel good? Aren’t you doing well? Is this your first time, because-”

“Cut the cr-crap,” he gasped, as she pushed against something deep inside him. His right leg spasmed as her hair squirmed around the hole, one creeping forwards to tease his balls.

She paused, letting him get used to her there. Then she activated the dark magic bound into the dildo, awakening the dark spirit trapped within so it became a facsimile of the demonic organ it resembled. Testolagh let out a shuddering gasp as it started to squirm and vibrate within him. It was no human cock, and it could do things that a man couldn’t.

“What… oh, gods!”

“Having fun?”

“Yes,” he exhaled. His hips bucked as he thrust up between her thighs, sliding up and down against her slit. Again and again he rubbed against her clit and its piercing, and she let out a little moan.

Rising up onto her knees, she positioned his dick between her legs, and slowly, so slowly sank back onto him.

He let out a trembling grasp. “This… isn’t fair,” he mumbled into her back. “I just…”

“You’re being very vocal for someone who’s all into getting me off,” Keris told him, grinning. “You don’t get to come until I do. So you need to please me. Help get me in the mood.”

He sighed. “What do you want?”

“What do you want… my lady,” she suggested.

“No, that’s stup… ah! That’s still stupid, Keris! I’ll do what you want, but that’s stupid!”

Good enough. She clenched an internal muscle, unfolding one of the less human features of her mutated body. Another lock of hair rose up to snake around his jaw, splitting open to form an inhuman cock-tongue-feeder. It had lips around the edge, and glistened with sweet nectar. She licked it against his lips, tasting his drool and traces of her. “Open wide, then. It’ll taste good, trust me.”

Obediently he opened his mouth, and she mashed the lips to his. The nectar-covered tongue twisted against his, until he realised the sugar-coating and started to suckle on it. “Good boy,” she whispered. As a reward, she pushed into his ass and back onto his cock. “Work it. It’s my cock in your mouth. Worship it. Polish it with your tongue.”

It wasn’t a cock, of course - though from the way Testolagh moved his tongue it wasn’t the first he’d taken - but the sugary nectar felt good to express. Not quite like nursing, but not entirely unlike it. He was probably feeling even better. Keris had made it originally for a treat for Sasi and it definitely put her in the mood and made her very affectionate. And it helped her keep going, of course.

Keris bared her teeth. Testolagh was in for the long run. The long ride, even.

She started to sway him back and forwards, lifting herself up and down. When she rose from him, she impaled him deeper on the dildo in his ass. When she sank down, she clenched and rippled around him, inhuman muscles dragging him to sinful hell. She controlled the pace, sometimes as gentle as a first kiss, sometimes as hard as to force grunts out of both of them. And constantly, the warm pulse of the sweetness she was releasing into his mouth.

He tried to shift under her, to sit up. Her hair reached back to pin his shoulders, and just to be sure she timed her next bounce with a push into his ass. Any rebellion vanished as the strength left him. No. She had control here. This was her sport.

And not all the whines and gasps were coming from him. This felt good. Really good. It wasn’t like the sex with him had ever been bad, exactly, but now she was _into_ it. His gasps of breath made the hair stand up on the back of her neck, and her inner thighs were coated in oil and slime.

Was this what it took to really get into sex with Testolagh? To drag him down? To break that self-righteous face until it was what she saw in the reflections, red and desperate, tongue hanging out?

Up and down, in and out. She pushed his body past its limits, and he convulsed, twitching. But from the frustrated groan, his oath held him tight. His muscles refused to fire; his chakras stayed closed. The only mark of his near-orgasm was a splutter of precum from his dick.

“Well, how about that?” Keris whispered huskily. She was close herself, but… no. Not yet. Her heart hammered in her ears. This was something new. She’d thought that he’d just stop before he reached that point - but that wasn’t how it worked. He body tried. And failed.

He gasped around the bulb in his mouth, eyelids trembling. She sank again onto his cock, clenching her inhuman muscles around his head, and he spasmed.

“Please,” he mumbled around the gag. “Don’t do th-”

She pushed the dildo in again, twisting it in the way she knew men loved. Again he spasmed, and again there was no release, no escape from the drowning pool of lust and desire. He groaned, heels thumping against the bed.

“Sensitive?” she asked, looking back at him archly. “Well, I haven’t come. So you can’t. How does that feel, Tessie?” She pushed the feeder in and out of his mouth, licking up his drool as she let him gasp for air. “Does this feel better than me lying back and letting you take the lead?”

“Y-yes,” he gasped.

She eased him out of her, letting his painfully erect, juice-covered cock bounce free. “You mean you like this?” she asked, lowering the act just a bit. She clambered off him, stroking his thigh with her golden nails as she sat by his feet. Her fingers squelched as she idly fingered herself with a lock of hair. “You like this over what Sasi does?”

He swallowed hoarsely, Adam’s apple bouncing. “You… you two are different.” His fingers reached out for her pussy. She flicked them away. He was her supplicant! “She’s soft. Giving. But. She wouldn’t take me up to the edge and-ah!”

Keris ran her thumb over the head of his cock, cutting him off. “You know, back in Nexus, there were boys like you. Boys who’d come down to Firewander, often rich boys, looking for the worst harlot trash to have fun with.” She looked away. “Easy marks to pickpocket or cosh. That certainly left them moaning on the floor.” Tucking her hair aside, she leaned in to hover her lips over the tip of his cock. “Lucky you that I’m not after your… silver.” She played with his balls, a wicked smile on her lips. “Just your jewels.”

“Pl-please. You. You’ll just… not until you…” he gasped, already flinching from the oath-ruined orgasm he knew was coming.

Keris flashed him a smile, and sank down on his cock, lips forming a perfect seal around the meat. He started panting as she rubbed her tongue piercing against his head, licking around the foreskin. He was very hard, and only got more so when she brushed her teeth against him. He gasped, and she came back up.

“You like the teeth?”

“Yeah. It’s… skin. Harder than a normal person. Won’t. Hur… ah!” She dipped down again, swiping her tongue around to gather up everything that remained of their mixed juices. She made sure he saw her swallow. “Stop teasing,” he gasped.

Ha! Like she was going to do that! She lowered herself over the ridge of his dick, then sank down, down until her nose touched his pelvic mound, tickled by his pubic hair. She could taste him and herself on the dick, and savoured the taste, cleaning the shaft with her tongue. She tasted _good_. And his scent filled her nostrils; sweat, maleness, and the bitter tang of the power of the King of Hell.

She looked him in the eyes, and deliberately, slowly rose back up until his cock bounced free. A little strand of drool tied her lips to his organ. “How was that?” she asked sweetly.

Testolagh made a little noise at the back of his throat. “Gods.”

Leaning in, she traced her tongue around the little rim at the edge of the head, teasing it mercilessly. “Can Sasi do that?” she teased. “I don’t have to breathe.” Despite the playful act, there was some hunger there. She loved her girlfriend dearly. But that didn’t mean she couldn’t want to be better at her at this.

“I…” But he couldn’t complete the sentence, because that’s when she took the chance to lean back over, taking him back into her mouth. She ran her tongue piercing up against the head, then pushed down deeper. He stiffened, the veins and tendons in his groin pulsing and fluttering with every heartbeat.

Down, up, and down again. Every bobbing motion left her taking a little more of him in. He reached out with his hands, trying to hold her head - but her hair wasn’t going to let him get away with that!

She squeezed her throat around the foreign body, rising up slightly, then sinking even deeper. Her lips curved up as she watched his toes clench and unclench. With one hand she played with herself, teasing her lower lips; with the other she began to finger his balls, running her fingers against the crinkled warmth.

He was hot in her mouth. Hot and salty and oily. He didn’t taste bad - very little did when you’d let demons change how you tasted things - but she still preferred the flavour of an excited girl. No, what was doing it more for her was the other things she could taste leaking from him. His thick, musky lust; his tang of frustration; that sweet sweet edge of desire.

Oh, she _liked_ the way someone tasted when they were flat on their back, all-but worshipping her. A proud man, brought down by the need for what she could do. Brought down by the need to come.

The thought drew her down again, down onto his base, where the coarse hairs tickled her nose and pushed against her lips. Testolagh gasped and shuddered at that, little curses and prayers spilling from his parted lips.

That gave her an idea. A wicked little thought, to see how far she could take him, to see what his vaunted pride would surrender out of desire. With a smile, she rose back up, and took a deliberately showy breath that drew attention to her chest. Something that she only accentuated when she leaned onto him, pressing him flat with the valley of her breasts. Warm drool slid down her chin, dripping onto him. Her pierced nipples pushed against his thighs.

“You know,” she said, leaning in slightly, then back again, rubbing up against his hot, sticky cock. It pulsed under her, pushing up. The motion dragged her nipples against him, again and again. “That hair is getting in the way. It’s tickling my nose. It’s gotta go.”

Testolagh struggled to focus on her, overcome by the stimulation. His eyelids fluttered as she rubbed slowly, slowly against him. “What… what has to?”

“The hair. Your pubes.” She let a little mix of her spit and his precum ooze from the corner of her mouth, and licked her lips, spreading it around. They caught the lantern light, glistening tantalisingly. “It’s getting in the way. I’m going to have to shave you.” She paused. “It’ll grow back. Unless you decide you want it this way forever and beg me.”

“Keris, this is going too…”

“Do you want me to leave?” She was testing him. His cock slid between her breasts, trapped between their bodies; the tip of a lubricated and soaked hair strand played with his asshole again. “I want this all smooth. But,” and she showed a little teeth in the smile. “It goes, or I go. And you,” she let his cock brush her lips as she pulled back, “won’t come tonight.”

“I… you…” His expression twisted between outrage and lust. She could see his eyes flicking between her face, her hanging breasts and the mirrors behind her that showed her dripping behind presented to him. Her heart clenched up. Had she pushed him too far? But his resistance crumbled - not at all helped, of course, by her pushing the strand into his ass. “Do it.”

“Say please,” she teased.

His brow crinkled up. “Please!” he gasped hoarsely.

“Please what?”

“Please, Keris!”

Relief flooded her. She… was enjoying this. A lot. “Well, since you ask so nicely…”

Her busy hands were already getting to work. This wasn’t just a trim; the flesh-moulding squirming of her hands was coaxing out the follicles, stripping away all the growth. There was no pain to this shaving; only a deep pleasure. She quickly swept the hair off the bed, putting it somewhere safe.

Sinking down, she ran her tongue over the silky smoothness of his groin. Tilting her head to the side, she planted a soft kiss on one of Testolagh’s balls, trailing her tongue to its twin where she again brushed her lips against it like it was her lover. Back and forth, lavishing attention on them, spurring them to redouble their efforts to make her an offering.

“How… ah! How is this helping you?” he moaned, squeezing her hand with his. “I thought you wanted to…”

Keris chose not to answer. Hair wrapped around his dick, she took one of his balls into her mouth, rolling it around. It was slightly giving and hot, and she could taste the pent-up passion trapped within by his oath. A little bit of pressure was enough to draw a whimper from him as she pursed her cheeks. Carefully, she took the other one and gave it the same treatment, playing with the precious thing as she made sure to coat him thoroughly in saliva. Withdrawing, she licked her way up his dick then gave a gentle kiss to his red cockhead, drawing forth a grunt. There was more precum oozing out of his tip, and she licked it up just to taste his frustrated desire. And to hear his shuddering inhalation.

“Look, doesn’t that make it look bigger?” she cooed. She took his hand, and guided it to his now-smooth groin. “Have you ever been like this before?”

“No,” he said. There was awe in his voice as he rubbed against the velvet-soft skin coated in a mix of their juices. “Okay. Got it. Wow.”

“Does it feel good?”

“Yeah.”

“Start stroking.” She guided his hand to the shaft. Scooting around, she spread her legs, entangling them in his limbs so she spread wider. She could see all of him; he could see all of her Licking her fingers, she began to finger herself languidly. She traced the lips of her labia, playing with the juices in a display just for him. She kept away from her clit, though the thought made her hand shake. “Up and down, up and down. Feel how smooth it is. It’s like silk. Tell me it feels amazing.”

“It does,” he moaned, leaning back. His broad back was up against the head of the bed, his head between the thighs of the icon-statue who watched over it. His eyes were locked on the hypnotic glow of the red pearl on her clitoral hood, even as his head leaned against the icon’s groin. His abdominal muscles clenched again and again, mottled with a red flush. Both his eyes flickered over her whole body, and despite what he had to know, his hand sped up. He didn’t seem to care that all he could get from it was another ruined orgasm.

Keris leaned in, reaching out with the hand she’d been using to play with herself. She joined him on his dick, rubbing her own juices onto the sticky, red head. He grunted, but she pulled him forwards with her hair, guiding his hand to her pussy.

“You want it so bad,” she said, slowly stroking his dick as she guided him. Showed him how to play with the pearl-tipped piercing to give her the most pleasure. She was tingling too, her heart racing. “Don’t you want to have it?”

“You know fucking well that I do,” he gasped. He slipped one finger into her depths, thumb rubbing against the hood.

“I’ve really opened your mind,” she purred, pushing into his questing fingers.

“What?” His eyes were heavy-lidded.

“Maybe now you’d like a piercing like mine.” She wasn’t sure if it was the fingering or the thought of him begging her to do more things to his body that made her hotter and wetter. She could make him into artwork down below, a sight for only her and Sasi. Proud, proud Testolagh hiding the women-pleasing changes performed on him.

Oh, she was so horny that her mind couldn’t help but wonder all the things you could do to a man with the dark magic she knew. Twist his chakras up so he couldn’t come until his partner did. Reshape his dick into something that dragged across the clitoris no matter the angle. Maybe make him smell and taste more like a woman… or give his body the capacity to transform. Her lips parted in a moan as she imagined how much more fun Testolagh would be if he could be a girl.

Maybe something of that showed on her face. “What?” He paused in his motions, leaning back slightly.

Keris smiled languidly, tickling the head of his cock with her fingers, feeling the throbbing heat. She guided his hand away from her, before he could get her so close to the edge she couldn’t think. Such art was probably more than she could get away with. And it would be wasted on him too, if it worked - which it wouldn’t. Focus on what she could get. “Men can have all kinds of pretty jewellery for their fun bits too,” she explained. “Maybe you’d be better with a nice wide bar up there that would rub against you. Each time you thrust.” She matched her words with gestures. “Into me. Into Sasi. Making us moan. Just for you.”

“Fuck, I’m gonna…”

She stopped, just before his gate of release would have tried to open, just to watch him squirm as he was suddenly denied skin contact.

“And,” Keris whispered huskily, “that’s not all I could do to you. All to make this better.

Without looking up, Keris guided his hand to one of her breasts, letting his thumb feel the piercing that ran through the nipple. His eyes once again returned to the soft red glow of the pearls, his face relaxing. “Maybe you’d like something like this,” she said. She shifted his hand over to the other one. “Look how lovely they are.”

Testolagh cough-spluttered. “Lovely. But smaller than Sasi’s,” he managed. He was hoarse, so caught up in desire.

She froze in place, squeezing. He moaned, and tried to thrust. After five seconds of warning, she released and returned to stroking.

“The piercings, asshole.”

“Ooooh. Oh. Uh. Lovely. Piercings.”

“Lady Lilunu taught me all kinds of magics with piercings and tattoos. I could pierce your nipples so when you put special rings in, they’d feel as sensitive as your dick.” Her hand rubbed up and down, making wet sloppy noises. “There are certain piercings that take away the wait before a man is ready again, so he can go and go. Or would you like a tattoo on your ass? A feathered serpent and an eagle-headed dragon, coiling around both cheeks. Something that shows that only me and Sasi can go there.”

Maybe it was that thought that pushed him over the edge yet again. He bucked and thrashed, thrusting up into her hand - but nothing came.

Reaching out with her hair, Keris pinned Testolagh down as he writhed. A little sun burned in her heart out of sheer joy of watching Testolagh - her rival for Sasi, kind of an asshole - twitch at her hands. Before, their sex had been something she’d just been doing for kicks and to keep him happy. To keep Sasi happy. In the hope it would all work out. But now, oh, now she was super into it. She started to finger herself with her free hand, playing with her clitoris, but… no! She was so turned on it hurt, but she’d ruin her fun if she got her release! Argh, why did she have to deny herself the chance to come to get off on watching him squirm?

So instead she leaned in again. “Good boy,” she whispered, head hovering over his dick. “You’ve earned that blowjob.”

Once again she took him into her mouth, so hot and sticky. Peeling back his foreskin completely with a hand, she ran her tongue piercing around the revealed rim, then slowly sank down. One hand played with his shaven balls, the other fingered his asshole. He twitched around her, clenching around the intrusion. Down out of his sight, she humped the edge of the bed, grinding against the hard rim. The fire in her pussy was building and building. She wasn’t just dragging it out for him. She was caught in the fires of her own desires too.

He was so sensitive from the last failed orgasm that it took only a few bobs of her head before he was clenching again, hoarsely gasping. His hands knotted the sheets; his back arched like a she-cat in heat. He was swearing under his breath, cursing to the gods between deep breaths that she could hear through the cock in his mouth. It was hot, and the saltiness leaking from the head was so full of lust that she almost wanted to keep on doing it.

Just so she could taste his emotions, his desire, the sharp rush of his pride reduced to begging her and praying to her with every move. Damn it! He was so hot when he was like this!

Inching her way up his dick, she made sure to brush the head against every bump she could. She had to pull her hand away from her clit when she brushed his head against her teeth and he went into gasping, twitching eyelid-fluttering spasms. She was so close from watching him try and fail to come for her time and time again that the slightest brush would set her off. Just like it needed so little to bring him up against the wall blocking his release.

Slowly she raised her head off his dick, and made sure she was drooling extra just for the spectacle. A long bead of saliva and precum linked her mouth to his dick, and she let him see it splash against her chest.

“L-look at that,” she managed, working her jaw. “You got me all messy. Maybe I should punish you.”

“I… you… you’re… evil.” Testolagh’s chest rose and fell. His thick brows were furrowed. “This. Stop. Dragging.”

“Aren’t you enjoying it?” Her slick hand thumbed her nipples, which felt as hard as they’d ever been. They’d only been like that with Sasi before. And Ney, but he didn’t count.

“Hurts.” His dick was painfully erect, the foreskin fully retracted, the head a deep purple. Her saliva oozed off it onto his groin. The dick jerked time and time again, a ghost orgasm wracking it. “Hurts so good. Need to come.”

“You really like my teeth that much?” she checked, interested. He’d said it before, but...

“No. Yes. Good pain. Skin. Hard. Teeth and… nails. Good.” He swallowed, trying to sit up. He didn’t have the strength, and sagged back down. “Sasi. Doesn’t like using them.”

“Well, you know you can stop if you want to,” she said, shuffling up to lean over him. “You just need to pass over getting to come tonight.”

He managed to glare as best he could, for a red-eyed, drooling man. “After you… did all… this?”

She rubbed up against his thigh, slickly sliding over him. Letting him feel her warmth and wetness up against his skin. “You could stop, though. It’s your choice.” She gave him a wicked smile. “Choices matter.”

“Just come, woman!”

Just for that, she decided she was going to drag another failed orgasm out of him. But what to do, what to do? She didn’t want to look boring, or do anything she’d done before. This was art. She could suck his dick until dawn without coming, but not only would that leave her with a sore jaw, it’d probably just make him mad. It was all a game. To see how far she could push him. To see how low he’d drag himself.

Plus, she really wanted to see his face when she finally let him come inside her. It’d be the perfect culmination to the night.

Crawling up him, she dragged her breasts along his torso, pinching his nipples - just as hard as hers - with locks of hair. Her too-long tongue licked him from navel to jawline. She could taste the salt and the lust on him. Scooting up, she sat on his chest, legs wide open so he could see her vulva right before him. But not reach it, even if he strained.

She spread her lips for him, tracing the insides with her fingers, playing close to the edge with herself as much as with him. When she felt like she risked coming, she withdrew her fingers, spreading them so he could see the juices clinging to them. Gently, she pushed them into his mouth, letting him taste them.

“I think you’ve been a lot of fun,” she cooed. “Look how wet I am. How I’m almost there. I just need a bit more. Something to push me over the edge. And then you can come.” She laughed, wiping her fingers around his lips. “Stick out your tongue. Maybe you can win the prize if you can lick my clit.”

Of course, he couldn’t, but she giggled more at seeing this serious man strain like a small child trying to get the last honey out of a pot. “Tick tock tick tock,” she teased, reaching back with her wet hand to rub at his dick. She added her personal juices to her saliva and his precum. When she brushed against his head, he let out a whimper and bit his tongue.

“Keris…” he gasped.

“Time’s up!” she said with false cheerfulness. She shifted around on top of him, hair still pinning his limbs, and inched back to his crotch. His dick stood up like an ancient building, trembling in the wind. Taking it in her hand, she slowly rubbed it between her lower lips, coating it in her juices. “Such a good dick,” she said a stage whisper. “Always doing your job. But your master won’t let you get your fun.”

Damn it, she wanted it in her. She was more turned on than she’d been in months. But she wouldn’t let him win. He had to learn! She wasn’t sure what it was that he was learning, but he had to learn it!

Lifting herself up, she squatted over the dick, adjusted its position, and slowly lowered herself onto it. Keris wasn’t the biggest fan of anal, but right now she was horny enough that she’d probably crest if she took him normally. Plus, she’d fucked his ass hard enough that maybe he should get his own revenge.

“Kerisssss…”

A revenge that wasn’t what he wanted, but sort of a revenge. Reaching back with her hair, she lowered the nectar-tongue into his mouth again. That should shut him up, she thought, wincing as he filled her bowels. And indeed he started to suckle on the thing in his mouth, fellating it as she raised herself up and lowered again.

Leaning back, she spread her legs wider and tried to get used to the feeling of him inside her. Her body protested, the fullness not entirely pleasant. Swapping out one of her hands for her hair, she reached down with the now-free hand.

“You like this?” she gasped, as she bounced on his cock. Her fingers played with his smooth, hairless ballsack. Dragons, she was so glad she’d taken so much care to lube him up. Next time she planned something like this, she was making sure she brought even more oil. “You like the tighter hole? You like it when Sasi does this?” She looked back over her shoulder archly, to stare at his adorable red sweaty face.

He stank of frustration, of lust so thick she could almost chew it. Oh, it was a sacrifice she was willing to make to get that facial expression. To smell that coming off him.

Testolagh didn’t answer, eyes clenched shut, but she thought his head bobbed.

She’d noticed that too. Sasi liked having her ass played with. A lot. Keris didn’t get it - but then again, the Yozi-power had twisted Sasi so it wasn’t like she was using it for anything else. “Well, be a good boy and maybe I’ll let you do it again. Or maybe I won’t. And-”

An inarticulate noise escaped the back of the man’s throat, and he reached up, grabbing her by the waist. Their hot bodies ground and slid over each over as he twisted them, coated in sweat and juices. There was a sharp stinging blow as she cracked her head against the debauched statue, but the feeling of his sweaty body between her thighs was turning her on more than the pain. They wound up with her on her back, him on top, staring into each other. He was still humping, but he’d slipped out and his dick was running up in the slick channel of her buttcheeks.

“This isn’t funny,” Testolagh growled, spitting out her hair tendril. “You… you just need to come! Stop playing!”

Her pussy felt like it was on fire; it demanded her attention. It drowned out the ache from her asshole. Sliding a hand down between them, she grabbed his dick, pulling it back between them and cleaning it off. “Well, if you’re going to sit back and let me do whatever, it’s your fault,” she retorted. “You promised you’d get me off!”

“You were going to leave,” he growled, eyes reddened. His musk wafted over them, coiling over her tongue as she tasted the air. The smell of a man whose need for her overwhelmed everything else. His weight spread her legs wider, adding a quiet, satisfying burn to the sensation in her groin.

“Or maybe I just wanted you to stop being so fucking passive and pay attention to pleasing me,” she growled. She squeezed back, wrapping her legs behind him. “You treat me like I’m fucking Sasi… like I’m a princess. I’m not!”

“You get off on teasing me until it hurts!”

“Yeah? So what? You get off on it too!”

She shifted in place, working her back up against the shrine. She rested her head between the thighs of her idol. Big hands grasped her legs, lifting them up until her knees were hooked over his shoulders. He pressed up against her, his length rubbing up and down her slit, running over her clit. He was so hot; she was so wet. She reached down, wiping his dick against the sheets. He slid over her palm as he thrust into her grasp.

“Fuck you,” Keris muttered, her voice a husky growl. “So now you finally decided that you’re going to make me come. Rather than sitting back and letting me do all the work. Took you fucking long enough. Why don’t you-”

He drew back, then pushed into her. Her words were lost in a yelp that forced its way out of her lips. With her legs raised, she was tight and he went deep into her. She could feel each of his heartbeats through her inner walls. When he bottomed out, ballsack up against her ass, she felt stuffed. She was a small woman - everyone knew it - and before with him, it hadn’t been too much fun when he went too deep. But right now, with the whole play before having got her in the mood, the ache of being overfilled felt good.

“You’re a fucking tease,” he breathed, face close to hers. His face was alarmingly red. Drool hung from his chin.

She leaned in, licking up the drool for the rush of desire. “Yeah, I am. And you wanted someone to treat you like this,” Keris retorted, cheeks flushing. “Don’t pretend you didn-ah!” He pulled back. She let out a squeak, suddenly feeling empty. “Didn’t love me taking both your holes. You were begging me!”

“And you were getting into it!”

“Of course I was! Look at your face. You love me! You want me! You-”

But what she was about to say was lost, as he simultaneously pushed in to the hilt and pushed his lips up against hers. Instincts older than awareness took control, and she moaned around his tongue, spreading her thighs fractionally wider on his shoulders.

He took the invitation, and started to pound her. Each thrust ended with them pressed up against each other, her body forced into a ball, his mound rammed up against her piercing. Her hair wrapped around him and the bedposts, adding extra force to his penetration. They weren’t making love. They were fighting. They were fucking.

“Harder! Harder!” Keris growled, snaking two locks around to play with her own pierced nipples. All the tension between them was coming out and it felt fabulous. “Get me off!”

“Fuck you,” he growled, sweat dripping off his brow down onto her. The smacking of their flesh filled their ears, like the heartbeat of a great beast. “Go fuck yourself.”

“Fuck me yourself!” Keris spread her legs wider, accepting him in deeper, and then brought them around to wrap around his waist. “It’s all you’re good for!” Her nails scraped along his back, unable to break his skin. She huffed and puffed as she was driven again and again into the statue. His stomach flapped again and again into hers; his swollen hairless balls slapped against her soaked ass; her breasts bounced so hard they ached.

Keris looked over his shoulder for a moment, through a pink-hazed mind. She could see another… no, her own reflection. The pair of them looked like beasts in heat, minds gone. Strands of her hair stuck to both of them. His face was beet-red, eyes nearly fully dilated, and hers was no less flushed. Both of them were drooling, only adding to the mess of spit and sexual fluids that bound them together.

Stretching back, Keris grabbed into the thighs of the statue and anchored herself, thrusting her hips back up at him. Each thrust was accompanied by a moan. There wasn’t much home behind the eyes of either the man or the woman. Higher thought had left both of them; base instinct ruled everything. Her eyes were slitted like a cat’s; her hair bled to white at the roots. The demon serpent that was her true self hissed in the back of her mind, driving her ardour on further.

But that was sight, and that didn’t mean much compared to the feeling. Every time his cock pushed deeper, she could feel the pressure forcing her open. He was deep, deep enough that normally it’d be hurting, but this prolonged foreplay meant that somehow it didn’t matter. Their bodies ground together; their lips locked and she writhed her too-long tongue around in his mouth, tasting him fully.

He wanted only her. He wanted so desperately to come.

She’d won.

That pushed her over the edge, and it was like a pipe had burst. Her eyes rolled back, and she let out a thin keening wail. She clenched down on the welcome intruder, instinct milking it for everything she could. Her brow ignited into a burning empty ring. But that was only the prelude, as his oath meant his body could suddenly manage what he’d been forsworn from for so long.

Testolagh screamed, and sagged onto her, trembling like a leaf. The green dawn sun on his forehead added its light to hers. All the strength in his arms vanished and his knees twitched convulsively. Sudden warmth spurted into her, again and again and again as every denied orgasm hit at once. She could only see the white of his human eye. His heartbeat was a hummingbird’s; his breaths were that of a wounded animal. He pressed his lips against her and she accepted it, tasting the lust in him as their tongues entwined. Another wave crested for her, and she clenched down again, muscles pulling at him, accepting the gift that leaked out between them and dripped down the curve of her ass.

Time meant nothing. Sight was a lie. All there was was the feeling of hot wet skin against her, the scent of their sex, and the bulging, twitching warmth that filled her.

The pair of them were a sweaty, entangled wet mess of hair and limbs. Panting, Keris drew back from the kiss, rolling him onto his back. Testolagh was out of it. His eyes were barely open, and his pupils were dilated wide. He wasn’t unconscious exactly, but no one was home behind his eyes. His tongue hung out of his mouth, a line of saliva still tying it to her own mouth. He was still humping her, his inner muscles still trying to pump out his offering even though he’d run dry.

“That… that…” she said, unable to complete the sentence. “Better. Good. Good boy.” She giggled, thighs fluttering, and slipped a hand between them to slip his softening dick out of her. He didn’t respond when she rolled him off her, only breathe shallowly, and when she stroked his cock it twitched.

Idly, she played with her lower lips in a lazy, sated manner. Her trimmed pubic hair was a matted, sticky mess of semen and her own juices; she was oozing down her thigh. He’d come much more than any other man she’d been with. Perhaps he’d released everything in one go. When she brushed a lock of hair against his testicles, he gasped hoarsely. It sounded like pain.

“Yeah… yeah, no wonder,” Keris muttered. “I put them through… through a workout.” She yawned. After all that, she just wanted to sleep.

But maybe not yet. After all, the gift he’d left in her had quite a few alchemical and magical uses. It’d be criminal to let them go to waste.

With a groan, she slipped open a hidden compartment in the wall and pulled out a portable alchemy set. Hand over her pussy, holding in his semen, she crept out on shaky legs to do what she had to do. The path of the sorceress could be a messy one.


	5. Chapter 5

The bathroom was smaller than her luxurious personal one, but it was still larger than any room she’d lived in before she was chosen by Hell. The tiles that covered the surfaces were painted with pornographic artwork. She also had thought ahead and made sure there was a warded bowl there for her to store semen in for sorcerous purposes. It was as she squatted over the shallow bowl, letting his maleness drip out of her, that the guilt crept in like an unwelcome guest at a party.

That had been kind of fucked up.

Not just that she’d broken her rule and kissed him. Not just that there was a side to him that really got off on being hurt and being pinned down. Just... everything.

In the moment, she’d been into it. Really into it. Into it like she’d never been with Testolagh before, even when it had been the three of them in one bed. When it had been the three of them, there had always been the moment when they’d had to talk and try to shift and someone’s legs were in someone’s stomach and… well, normal things. And even when - for example - she’d had Sasi’s mouth on her pussy, she couldn’t ignore that her girlfriend was being pounded from behind by a man that Keris didn’t exactly want there. It had sort of distracted from things.

But in the lantern light of the bathroom, her muscles were returning their bills for that exertion. As a hundred little aches made themselves known and the lust-haze unfogged itself, her mind was slowly putting together what had happened. Why had she… got off on getting Testolagh to ask her to shave his balls? That wasn’t a thing she normally did. She… actually kind of preferred a man who looked like a man down there, as long as it was under control. And how many times had she dragged a spoiled orgasm out of him before she’d finally given in?

Her ass ached, reminding her that for some stupid reason, she’d decided take him anally just to put off her own orgasm.

“Urgh,” Keris groaned, covering her eyes with her hair. That was a mistake in its own right. The smell of their sex saturated her. She could taste all the emotions as it wafted over her tongue. And more than that. Her hair stunk of his lust and her arousal; of all the nasty little emotions that had been swirling in both of them. His pride; her envy. She inhaled deeply, remembering all the fun they’d had.

A thick white strand plopped down in the bowl, its passage eased by new wetness.

And the worst thing was, even through the haze of regrets and nagging shame, there was a bit of her that wanted to do that again. More than a bit, actually. She had been very well fucked, and it felt great. Her cheeks flushed as she breathed in the scent. It wrapped around them until she wasn’t entirely sure if she had left the bed. Almost without thinking, she rolled her clit between her sticky fingers, pinching her nipples with her hair. She ached, but that just seemed to fan the flames higher.

But there was a nasty little current that wanted to see Testolagh flat on his back again, unable to up or do anything other than gasp her name. Or maybe he’d be on all fours before her, and shuddering with fear and arousal as she oiled up the blood ape stone cock, waiting for that moment when she thrust it deep into him. Her hand around his hot dick, roots sinking into it to bring him pleasure that left him wanting only her…

Keris leaned forwards, letting a feeder tendril sprout from her hair. She started to suck on it, tasting their juices as her two tongues intertwined. Her whole body flushed at the sensations that rushed through her again. She needed it again. More.

Her breasts pressed up against the cold tiles as she let her imagination take over. Her fingers spread herself, and a lock of hair pushed in. Yes, that was it, she was full again. She could see it now, as she imagined him taking her from behind. Moans drifted out from the bathroom. In her room, with her magic and all the artistic talent she’d put in, he’d give in. It wouldn’t take many sessions. She could get him into the habit of doing whatever she wanted in the bedroom. The Unquestionable commanded Testolagh and failed; she could wrap chains of pleasure around his dick and he’d want to follow her wherever she suggested. She accepted the thick thing that forced its way past her lips, rolling her pierced tongue around it to savour the salty tang. He’d beg to follow.

She paused, shaking her foggy head. She was face down into the tiles, butt raised high into the air as she sucked off her own hair to get more of the taste. Her hands were both between her legs, uncaring of what she’d been doing. In her frenzy, she’d knocked over the bowl that was collecting his semen.

“Shit!” she swore, picking herself up. She needed that semen as a source of male power for her spells! Quickly she started trying to clean it up before it was diluted by the other powers in the room.

Gods, dragons, what the fuck was wrong with her? Why was she getting off on that so much that just after she’d been pounded like she’d almost never been before, she was already horny. And not even normal-horny. Horny to see Testolagh degraded, to see him…

… reduced.

Like she’d done to Ogi by accident. Except more so. Because Ogi had just loved her too much and Keris hadn’t realised that was happening because she’d been young and inexperienced and a beautiful Southern sugar-mama had been giving her love. This was… this was… Keris wiped her running eyes on her hair, cheeks flushing. What was the word to describe it?

This was really hot.

She traced her sticky, semen-painted lower lips with two fingers. She was too tired and too horny to think about things like that. Idly, she sucked on the fingers, letting his saltiness fill her world. Oh, she could taste everything about him; his arousal, the feeling of pleasure from his ass, even how amazing it felt to use her. She scrunched her eyes shut, calling on the power of her po and the Hungry Swamp to make her fingers into hypersensitive tongues. Then she thrust into herself with three fingers on one hand, while running her other hand over her sweaty, sticky, _tasty_ body.

She could see his face even now, eyes rolled back and tongue hanging out, knowing pleasure only she could give him. It wouldn’t take that long before he was begging for more; more; more! He’d swear another oath, only this time it wouldn’t be just for one night. Flat on her back, she assaulted her snatch with one hand while groping her breasts with the other. Taste hijacked her other senses, becoming his touch, his smell, his warmth. Her soft moans become groans, and then degenerated into simple panting.

And slowly she’d break down that self-righteous bastard. The heat in her tired core was an inferno now. No one outside the three of them would ever know; it’d be their little secret. He’d be proud to everyone else, but get them alone and he’d kiss her feet, ass in the air as he begged to eat her out. Her mewling little toy, sticky and servile. Kneeling there at the other end of the bed, bouncing up and down on a dildo as he watched her make love to Sasi. Playing with himself, but unable to come until she let him. And when the time came, she’d invite him to join then and she’d taste his love and desperation as he thrust into her as Sasi ate her out, calling out her name, and...

Those thoughts were enough to push her over the edge again. She clenched around her fingers, hair going limp, thighs quivering. Warm juices flowed down the insides of her thighs, pooling on the ground underneath her. She was a warm gooey pile of limbs and lust. It felt good. She sucked at her hair, eyes fluttering closed. So good.

Once again, guilt crept in as she lay there on the ground, legs splayed, fingers still hooked up into her. Idly, she started to finger herself again. Something was wrong. And she’d… she’d nearly got there. Nearly realised what it was. As she lay here, smelling of sex and semen and sweat. That smell that was still kind of turning her on.

Fuck. Keris giggled to herself, shedding the… the all-consuming smell just for a moment as she realised what a joke it was. She was fucked. Because she was fucked. It was the Hungry Swamp in her. The scent, the taste, the _deliciousness_ of their body fluids was like a meal for her libido. She kept on coming back to getting off on Testolagh down on his knees before her because she could taste herself getting off on it.

And her body was responding, because it knew the pleasure.

“I need a bath,” Keris muttered, heart sinking. She needed to scrub herself clean. Not just so she’d feel less dirty after discovering that she got off on this kind of thing. So she wouldn’t be able to taste those feelings and emotions on herself anymore.

And maybe she’d need to go and fetch the Ney dildo too, because she was already turned on again and she needed to think of something - anything - that wasn’t Testolagh’s cute oily dick, jerking again and again as it tried to come but couldn’t.

“Shit.”


	6. Chapter 6

Aching.

He ached all over. His muscles were weak and trembling things, and he just wanted to sleep. But he hadn’t gotten where he was by listening to the complaints of his body. The music of impossible things pulsed in the dark places of his mind, calling him to strange conclusions and peculiar leaps of logic. Another thing to ignore.

The husk of the demon that had carried the demonic power to him babbled in his mind, humming a mindless song with the cadence of a nursery rhyme. Useless as ever. He hadn’t gotten to where he was by listening to that thing, either.

He opened his eyes. The ceiling above him was simple pale blue drapes. The walls to his right were bare, too; nothing like the blur of obscene imagery that… that should have been there. The air smelled of lemongrass tea and a hint of freshly cut apple.

There was something soft and warm under his damp-feeling face, and he shifted in place. Oh. Keris was there. His head was on her lap. She was wearing a soft scarlet silk bedrobe, and was peeling an apple with a penknife.

He felt himself blush, a goofy grin crossing his lips. He then winced, his balls protesting. “Morning, beautiful,” he said.

Keris smiled down at him, a soft expression with none of her usual wariness or aggression in it. “It’s the middle of the night, but I suppose… morning. “How are you feeling?”

He held his hands to his aching brow. “Like I’ve just been,” he winced, “trampled by a horse.”

“Personal experience?”

“Yes.” Fleeting memories forced their way into his mind, and he frowned. “This isn’t the same room.”

“No, it’s not,” she agreed. “It’s a… side room. Somewhere calming. I thought it’d probably be best to have somewhere nearby where people could actually sleep.”

Her scent filled his nostrils - she’d cleaned herself up. The apples weren’t just the smell of the fruit she was cutting. He must have been asleep for a while. The last thing he remembered was pleasure so intense it hurt. Was this how it felt to be a river god when an unwanted dam was broken? A sudden twinge of worry struck him, and he glanced down his still-naked body.

Oh thank the gods, his dick was still there. Completely flaccid, despite the fact that he was lying naked on a bed, his head in the lap of a beautiful woman he’d just been fucking. It had probably given out entirely. Although, he noticed, Keris must have sponged him down. The oil was nearly all gone, and he felt clean rather than a sweaty mess.

Keris chuckled, and he felt her body shift under him. “Yes, little Tessie is still there,” she said, reading his expression. “He did a hero’s job tonight. All tuckered out.”

He couldn’t help but laugh too. He sobered up quickly, though. “At the end, the…”

Keris looked down at him. “It got… intense. Maybe too intense.”

“What I said…”

“No, what I said...” she said, a fraction of a second after him.

They both trailed away into silence. He could feel himself blushing. At the end, he… gods, his head was all mucked up. He’d loved her and he’d hated her.

He’d been weak. Too weak. He’d made that vow without thinking. That was something he shouldn’t have done. He could feel the mild ache in his bones that told him it had been fulfilled, that thank the gods he had specified tonight. If he hadn’t, if he’d been a little more vague, if he’d vowed not to come at all…

… that would have been bad. Very bad. Breaking such an oath would have been painful and hard.

He’d been lucky.

And there was a little voice at the back of his head crowing that Keris would never call him a bad lover again. Not when he’d seen her like that, eyes dilated, drooling, moaning into his lips.

Oh. His honour dictated an apology there. “I’m sorry. For kissing you, I mean. We agreed not to do that.”

“Ah. I… I think we can let that slide.”

“Yes, but we agreed. It wasn’t right for me to do that.”

She leaned in to peck him on the cheek. “I think we were sort of past that. At about the point we’d taken each other in every hole we had.” She paused. “Do you want some apple?” She offered him a cut slice. “I can feed it to you.”

That bought giggles from both of them at the sudden change in topic.

His arms felt like boiled noodles. But he still had some dignity. He made the effort, before giving up and opening his mouth. She popped it in, and he bit down. It was fresh and tangy and cleansing.

“That,” he said after swallowing, “that was a thing.”

“Yes. Uh. It was.” She shifted under him, unfolding her legs and shifting him so he was sitting up slightly, his head on her chest rather than her lap. Keris rested her arms on his chest, hugging him gently, while her hair continued to cut more apple. Her silken bathrobe was only tied loosely. The curve of her breast emerged from it, nipples making tents of the thin silk. “When you’re ready, I also have lemongrass tea for you.”

Something was wrong. It took him some time - and two more pieces of apple - to put it into words. “Why are you being so… wifey?” Testolagh asked, eventually. It took effort to be suspicious of her. He felt warm and safe and… despite everything, happy.

She sighed. “I’m not being wifely,” she said. “I’m just being a woman who was just fucked very well, who wants to make sure her partner is alright. Because you might not be.”

“Oh.” Yes, he was hurting. It only felt like strained muscles, apart from the deep ache in his balls, but maybe she wasn’t sure. “Thank you.”

Keris rubbed the back of her neck with a lock of freshly washed hair. “Things got a little more… uh. A little rougher and more… heated than they ever have with us before. And we could really hurt each other. Physically and otherwise.”

He shifted, and winced. “You’re not wrong there. My cock feels raw and my balls are aching.”

A guilty expression flickered across her face. “Uh… I mean, I was going to offer a massage for pulled muscles, but that would probably make the problem worse.”

“Just a bit.”

Testolagh sunk into her embrace, eyes hooded. The music of other realms pulsed in his skull, trying to escape. Almost making meaning, unintelligible voices mentioning ‘Keris’. He… how did he feel about this? About her?

That had been fantastic. Oh, there were no two ways about it. It had been good sex. Great sex. Maybe the best he had ever had. Certainly far better than that deceitful demon-witch Mara and hubristic swaggering hell-lion Asteron had offered him, back in his early days in Hell, and Fai… Fai had only been mortal. He had loved her, but a human body couldn’t offer the pleasures of a green sun princess. Only Sasimana had compared.

And yet. To revel in sensation would have been so easy. He twitched, the vivid memory of Keris’s lips around his cock so real as to almost be a waking dream. His hips wanted to twitch into action. She had done things to him, with him, for him that had no compare. But it had been a side to her that he had never seen before, especially not in the bedroom. She had never taken pleasure in making him grovel, in making him beg, in - his hands went to his balls - stripping away the hair there. It had been real. The whole episode was taking on dream-like, hallucinatory aspects in his mind, like it couldn’t all have been real. But his hairless ballsack was a sign that it had been, and that Keris got off on making him beg.

It had been… incredibly arousing to be there, pinned down by her as she did all those sinful, wonderful things to him. Drawing the pleasure out more and more and more, until it crashed down. The foster-aunt of his daughter, moaning under him. On top of him. Enveloping him. Knowing exactly what to do and making him gasp, rather than lying under him.

Was that the Keris that had won Sasi’s heart?

“You were… different,” he said, eventually.

She sighed, arms tightening around him. “I don’t do things like this normally,” she said carefully. “Not with Sasi. It’d hurt her in a way she wouldn’t enjoy. I was… playing a role for you, because… I thought you liked it.”

“I did, I did!” he blurted out. His cheeks reddened and he sat up with a groan. She reached out to stabilise him. “It was… that moment when I finally got to come, it… it was probably the best sex I’ve ever had. I’ve never been, uh, denied release so long.” He bit his lip, a deep pulse of longing inside him tantalising him with the idea of experiencing it again. “Sasi tried it a bit, but only once or twice. Not like that.”

Her eyes flicked down, and Testolagh realised his dick was stirring to life. He went to cover himself, but it seemed pointless. Keris sat up too, taking his hands. “It’s… it’s just a bit surprising,” she said, meeting his eyes and acting like she wasn’t a woman holding the hands of a naked man who was getting more and more erect by the moment. “I found out things about you I didn’t think were… uh. A thing.”

“I think you enjoyed it too,” he said, simply.

“I did.” Keris smiled. “Right at the end, I came twice. Just from the feeling of you inside me.” She shifted in place, robe riding up her thigh. Despite himself, Testolagh couldn’t help but stare at the glimpses of her slit which were revealed by the motion. She was pink and puffy - but was she still turned on, or was she feeling much like his aching dick was? He wasn’t sure how it was for women.

“Are you hurting?” he tried.

She nodded. “A bit. Uh. You really gave me a pounding.”

“I’m really sorry if…”

“No, no, I wanted that.” She winced. “Just… I need to rest.”

“Oh, right, right.”

“I think it’s sort of good you’re going away, because I won’t be up to something like that for a while.”

“Ha! Yes, I’m… hurting too.”

A silence. Then “Do you want the tea?”

“Oh, yes please.”

“And… uh, here’s one of the towels.” She nodded down at his dick. “To… cover that up. I didn’t have any male bathrobes here. Didn’t think about that.”

Testolagh took both the tea and the towel, laying the latter across his groin. It was still very obvious that he was upright, but he felt better. The tea meanwhile was strong and sweet, with honey added. He sighed, shoulders slumping. “This is good.”

“It’s actually a Nexan recipe. Well, of sorts.” She smiled, a hint of sorrow. “I figured out you could brew up lemongrass that restaurants threw away into a drink when I was living on the streets. I’m fond of the taste. Back then, when you had fuel for fire, it was the best way to boil your water.”

“Clever.”

And there it was, another part of Keris he rarely saw. One which Sasi preferred to avoid, because it made her feel uncomfortable. Back home, there had been little stories sold by the travelling peddlers sometimes. Little mass produced pulp stories, produced by cheap printing presses or copied out en-masse. Many of them were morality tales - and one of their common stories had been of what happened to people who ran away to cities, looking to rise above their stations. It never ended well. Nexus; corrupt, sordid Nexus had been a favoured city for those kinds of tales back in the Scavenger Lands.

Keris might as well have been the main character of such a tale - complete with her selling her soul to Hell in the end. And here in the Anarchy, he was willing to bet that Saata played the same role. But Keris was very much at home in this wicked city.

The thing in his head tried to gurgle, almost like it was about to say something. But it made no sense to him. So what he said instead was “This is going to change things between us. I hope it’ll be better.”

“Mmm.”

Because he did hope it would be better. That was the thing. Maybe it was self-centred, but things had been very hard trying to stay faithful to Sasimana when they only saw each other a few times a year. And Sasimana never reciprocated that. So yes, Keris’s company was alluring.

“And of course,” he added, “something like this - again, I mean - would be wonderful.” He bit his lip again, without thinking. “I… I wouldn’t mind swearing a similar oath. In advance, that is. It was… really good.”

Keris hugged her knees, resting her chin on her knees. She seemed to be thinking. With her knees up like that, he could see her slit fully. And the puffiness wasn’t just the result of their last act of lovemaking. It glistened. She was turned on by the thought of it. “Maybe,” she said. “I… I’ll need to think about… this wasn’t planned. But… I had fun. I’m just not entirely sure with… how the emotions got. If you get me.”

Maybe she was thinking about Sasimana. To think that now Keris would be worrying about faithfulness and that she might be emotionally cheating on Sasimana! But he liked to think that he’d satisfied her more than enough that such was a possibility. “But one thing,” he said.

“Oh?”

Testolagh cleared his throat. “Did you… mean it?”

“Mean what?”

“About… the things about the tattoos and piercings and… things like that?”

“Oh. Um. No, not really,” she admitted. “Well, not the tattoo thing. What did I say? Oh, right, the… uh, the thing above your asshole?” She rubbed the back of her neck. “That was pretty dumb. I was sort of just making it up as I went.”

He chuckled weakly. “I didn’t know what to believe. You… uh, you didn’t leave me in much of a state to think about things like that.”

“I mean, if you wanted the piercings… yeah, those are pretty easy.” Keris tugged open her robe, showing off that she’d taken them out and that the holes had already scabbed over in brass. “You prob’bly heal even faster than me. Main problem is stopping me rejecting them - that’s where Lilunu’s lessons come in.” She chuckled. “Back in Nexus, saw a guy once who had a whole series of bar things in his dick. They called him Ladder Li.”

He cringed at that. “That’s asking a bit much. But… I don’t know. Maybe next time we see Sasi, we could try something in that way. Not… all the way. But playing with it, you know?”

Keris smiled at him, crossing her legs again. “Maybe. Maybe.”


	7. Chapter 7

The sun was offensively bright in the morning. That, or Keris was exhausted.

Probably both, she decided while she confirmed that the last of Testolagh’s supplies had been loaded onto a hired ship.

There was a lot of firedust. The Zu Tak deserved it.

The Saatan docks were ablaze with colourful banners and advertising murals. Down in the water, there were floating bottles and a corpse of someone who’d cheated at dice in the dive bars last night. Over at the end of the pier, a temple parade in many-coloured robes was scattering flower petals as they clanged gongs and beat their drums. Keris wasn’t sure which god they were honouring, because the wicked city of Saata had a profusion of deities, but she really wished they’d keep the noise down.

“This is entirely your fault,” Dulmea told her sweetly.

“Yes, mama, I know,” she groaned, leaning against the wall.

Aiko tugged her skirts. “Aunty Keris, what’s the matter?”

“Aunty Keris just didn’t sleep that well because she has a headache,” she told the little girl. “I think I’ll be taking an afternoon nap at the same time as you.”

“I can be your apothecary,” Aiko contributed. “Willow bark is good for headaches! But only for adults. Children shouldn’t have too much of it.”

Keris gave her a little cuddle. “Yes, that’s right!” she said, delighted. “Well done remembering that! But I’ve already taken some, so it’ll just pass.”

Reaching up, Aiko squeezed her hand. “And are you sure that it’s only tiredness and a headache?” she asked.

Her serious manners were so adorable. “Yes, Aiko, I am. I’m tired and achy but I’ll be better soon. And don’t worry, I’m already on the mend. You won’t catch it.”

Testolagh approached, wearing no shirt under his poncho in the already fierce morning heat. He was wearing dark glasses to cover his brass eye, and had a broad-brimmed hat on to shade his head. “Gods, it’ll be better when we’re away from this island,” he observed. “I’m sure the city blocks the breezes from the west. Things were better in your mansion.”

“We’ll be heading back there this afternoon, after we’ve eaten and Aiko has had her nap,” Keris agreed.

“And you too,” Aiko insisted.

Keris yawned. “And me too.”

Aiko stared up at the two adults, hands on her hips. “Now, Daddy! You need to show me your ship.”

Testolagh’s lips twitched. “You want to see the boat, do you?”

“No! It’s a ship, not a boat! It’s big enough to have little boats hanging over the side, therefore it’s a ship!”

Testolagh ruffled her hair, prompting an irritated swat at his hand. “Sure thing, baby girl. Let’s go take a look at it, then.”

“Because if I don’t make sure it’s safe, it’ll probably sink and you’ll drown, Daddy,” Aiko added.

“... yes, Aiko.”

“And then you’ll be eaten by siaka. They’re really big sharks and they live in the water. Unless it’s not the sharks that get you. Maybe it’s the giant squid. Or the huge fish with massive fangs and armour and…” Aiko’s recitation of all the ways that someone could die at sea faded away as she and her father climbed the gangplank.

And that left Keris alone on the pier, smiling to herself. She really did love that girl.

But without Aiko’s overly serious chatter to take her mind off things, Keris was left to think about… about everything. Everything that had happened. She shifted in place, perching on a wooden post.

Ow. Gods and dragons, she was sore down below. And her thighs were hurting. When she had some time, she was going to invoke Vali’s healing to patch up her aches and bruises, but she couldn’t do that when she had to be seen in public. The hellish marks such accelerated healing left on her flesh was just too obvious.

But the physical aches were petty. They’d be gone when she had some time to rest. The aches in her heart, on the other hand, were far more subtle and more severe.

She hadn’t liked the woman she’d been last night. She hadn’t liked herself, and Testolagh _had_. In some ways, that made it worse than if he’d been angry with her. And now he wanted it again, which was a whole barrel of apples she wasn’t sure she wanted to steal.

What should she do? The sex had been fantastic; she couldn’t deny that. And if she broke it off with him, he’d be upset. He wouldn’t understand why she was doing it - and explaining might honestly make things worse, given his pride. Sasi would be disappointed, too, and the distance that it would create might impact Aiko. But if she kept doing it...

Keris wasn’t always the most honest of woman. Or indeed ever a remotely honest woman. But she had enough self-awareness to know that it would happen again. Even if she took measures against it - even if she imbibed more of Vali’s oath-binding nature and swore not to go too far - it still wouldn’t stop her _thinking_ about it. And given time she’d squirm around the edges of the vow the same way she did with truth magic and laws and orders. She knew she would. Keris was a fluid person by nature; she’d always known that. If she really wanted something that was barred to her, she’d find a way to get it.

And Testolagh brought out the worst in her. He fed that vicious, envious side of herself; the Keris who got off on humiliating someone and bringing them low in a twisted revenge for being better than her in something. For being honourable and brave and determined. For being in love with Sasi first. For not just falling for her whims and wiles and wicked ways.

For looking _really_ good flat on his back, red and sweaty and begging her.

So the question was, did she try and stamp down that part of herself and keep things running in an uneasy balance of enough subjugation to be enjoyable but not enough to be too far? Or did she pull out of the dalliance altogether, rather than risk it? Because it had been fun. It had been horribly fun. And he was literally asking for it. He wanted more of that her that she didn’t like. But he did.

Would she give him what he was literally asking for?

She didn’t know. Not just yet. It would need some thought put into it, and maybe a trip out to the Fog-Wall to see Pekhijira. Dulmea’s dispassionate viewpoint might help as well... if Keris could get through explaining the problem without an aneurysm from sheer embarrassment.

“... and you need to make sure they put the ropes away better, Dady! You need to! Or else you’ll trip over them and then fall over the side and the siaka will eat you!”

“Aiko, I notice you don’t worry the same way about Aunty Keris.”

“Well, obviously! She’s not the one going on a boat trip! She just swims and she can eat sharks! She told me she can! But you need to take care of yourself, Daddy! You’re the one with an eye like my dragon eye because you couldn’t keep yourself safe!”

When Aiko and Testolagh emerged again, they found Keris nearly bent in half, hands over her mouth as she tried to stifle her giggles.

“Are you going to be sick, Aunty Keris?” Aiko exploded. “You need to sit down!”

Unfortunately, that just made Keris laugh even harder. “I’m fine, I’m fine,” she moaned, wiping her eyes. “Aiko, you are a treasure.”

Testolagh’s face twisted into a wry expression. “She’s quite the little prodigy,” he said, scooping her up in his arms and giving her a kiss. “Now, I’ll only be away for a bit, baby girl. Then mummy should be coming back to see both of us for Wood, and then you and Vali and maybe even Haneyl will be coming to my island fortress for Fire and you can meet Daddy’s people and I made sure there were lots of new people for you to know. So be good, okay?” He kissed her again, then put her down beside Keris.

“Mmm hmm,” she said, unwilling to let go of his hand yet.

“Things will be fine, Aiko,” Keris contributed. “Now say goodbye to Daddy.”

“Ah ah ah!” Aiko crossed her arms, glaring up at her father and her foster-aunt. “Aunty Keris! You need to kiss Daddy goodbye too!”

Keris blushed bright red. And there was a distinct pinkening of Testolagh's face too. She took a deep breath, stepping in to give him a quick hug and a peck on the cheek. And oh dragons, he was pleased to see her. She could feel him twitch through her dress and his shorts.

"Don't get yourself hurt and don't be stupid," she said, trying to sound like she normally did… wait, that didn't sound like her.

"I won't act like you, then," he retorted. "See you in a season or so, Keris."

"I'll expect reports."

"Of course you will." Testolagh turned his attention back to his daughter. "And make sure you behave, little girl. I don't want to hear from Aunty Keris that you're acting up.

Aiko furrowed her thick brows. "Daddy, I'm the good one!"

"Make sure you stay that way, then. Aunty Keris is a bad influence, so try to make her behave."

“I will!” Aiko said. She tugged Keris’s hand. “Be good, Aunty Keris!” she told her seriously.

Testolagh boarded, and soon enough his ship was setting off. The Saatan docks were too busy for a vessel like this to sit at them for long. Aiko got a little tearful watching her father leave, and needed some remedial hugs.

Keris watched him go, Aiko on her hip. She sighed.

This really made things very complicated.


End file.
